The Tale of Magik
by uncannybatman
Summary: A retelling of the saga of one of the most misused characters in Marvel history. review!
1. Chapter 1

I'm writing a few Magik stories because of the release of X-Infernus. This is a retelling of the issues Magik was in, but with her taking on a greater importance. I always thought that she was both miss and underused, with changing powers and personalities. Making her a New Mutant was a mistake, one that I'm not actually correcting, but I am getting rid of the problems that move created. Magik and her powers will be more prominent and better defined here.

Disclaimer: I own no one in this story. All the characters are property of Marvel

/

The X-Men pulled the little girl out of the portal, only to find that she was no longer a little girl.

"[Piotr? Is… is that really you]" (translated from Russian) she asked.

"Illyana?" Colossus asked as she moved her hands over his face, feeling his cheeks.

"I'd forgotten your face" she said in English before embracing her brother.

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Later, Illyana was being served dinner by Moira MacTaggert. She ate ravenously and without table manners.

"My goodness, girl! When did you last eat?" Moira asked, somewhat disgusted.

Illyana looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged and went back to pigging out. The answer disturbed Moira, but she didn't say any more. She went into the next room where the x-men were waiting.

"I've run every test I could think of. As far as I can tell she is the real Illyana."

"Then what happened to her?" Storm asked.

"It seems that while just a few seconds passed here she spent about seven years in that other dimension."

Kitty started to cry, and everyone looked at Colossus to see how he was taking the news. He seemed at a loss for words for several minutes. Finally, he asked "What shall I tell my parents?"

Everyone looked at him incredulously. "_That's_ what you're worried about Peter? What about _her_?" Wolverine inquired. Piotr just turned away.

Sensing that there was something more bothering him, Storm asked "Peter, little brother, what's wrong?"

"Its just that….that…I don't know if we can trust her. What if she was with Belesco the whole time?"

Storm looked at Moira. "She hasn't been very forthcoming about what happened to her, has she?"

Moira shook her head. "If it was especially traumatic she may never."

Kitty was still crying. "Seven years in that_ hell_!" She sobbed.

Storm turned back to Colossus. "If Illyana is here on Belesco's orders then she needs our help even more."

Colossus then walked into the room where Illyana was eating, saying "All of the good I have done as an X-Man hasn't been worth this."

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That night Illyana did not sleep soundly. She tossed and turned until she woke up screaming. After waiting to see if anyone one had heard her she took the medallion Belesco had given her out of her shirt, opened it, and stared at it for many minutes. Suddenly, her face contorted in rage and she threw the medallion against the wall. She did not go back to sleep that night; instead she sat in bed, holding her knees to her chest and breathing heavily.

On the floor the medallion was still open, with three of the five bloodstones already in place.


	2. do you belive in Magik?

The interpretation of Illyana in this issue is the one I liked the best in the comics. She could have been the greatest character in Marvel history if they kept this interpretation past issue twenty.

Everyone is the property of Marvel comics (in this story)/

Several months later, Illyana stood on a cliff near the mansion. It was her birthday, not that she really cared anymore. She had forgotten the date completely and was only reminded when her brother apologized for having to go with the X-Men on a mission and miss her birthday.

Brooding, Illyana wondered how old she was turning. Was she fourteen, fifteen, or a different age. This would have been her seventh birthday if not for… she looked at the medallion she always carried with her. _Belesco._ He was the cause of it all. Sooner or later he'd come for the medallion and its bloodstones, and for her. One of them _will die. _If its him the world will be saved, but what if she loses herself in order to defeat him and becomes the same threat he is.

Illyana was brought out of her thoughts by the beginning of a snowstorm. It was so cold that the snow began to accumulate immediately. As she began to head back towards the mansion she heard cheers of joy. Professor Xavier had let the New Mutants out from class to enjoy the snow. Illyana envied how easily they laugh and play; she hasn't even cried since returning from Limbo.

Illyana thought that she shared some similarities with the New Mutants' newest recruit, Amara, who came from a first century Roman civilization and was alien to technology. Illyana was just as foreign to this world when she first came back. But Amara was still a fairly normal teenager compared to Illyana. She fit in well with the New Mutants.

Illyana, on the other hand, had what were at best uncomfortable relationships with nearly everyone, including her brother. They were all still somewhat suspicious of her and even a little afraid. The only exception was Kitty Pryde. She was the only person who accepted Illyana, no questions asked.

While Illyana watched the New Mutants play Charles Xavier watched her. He was surprised to see that Illyana could stand to be out in such cold wearing only a sweater over her regular clothes. It was not hard for him to realize that that was another result of her captivity in Limbo. She never did tell them about those seven years. He wondered what it was that she was hiding. He still could not penetrate the psychic shields she displayed to learn more. It was time, he decided, to use all his resources to find out what he could about her and her captor.

Meanwhile the New Mutants notice Xavier in the window, and his grim expression. They wondered amongst themselves what could be the cause. Amara said that he was upset because his beloved Lilandra had left for her own land. The New Mutants then decided to throw a party for the Professor to lift his spirits. They found Illyana and let her in on the plan, which she agreed to help with. Roberto offered her his jacket since she wore only a sweater, but she refused it. After all, she had survived in far colder weather for many months, wearing much less as well.

But a creature waited in the shadows. There were o many people around right now. It would complicate things for him.

The New Mutants' dance teacher, Stevie, picked them up from the mansion, but instead of going to class she agreed to take them to the mall to get party supplies.

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Back at the mansion, Xavier was looking through his library for any reference to Belesco, but stopped when he sensed a presence he had never sensed before. He watched as a creature he heard to be far stronger than Colossus enter the library. "Greetings prof." the creature said as a psibolt from Xavier failed to even slow him down. "The name's S'ym."

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The New Mutants, Stevie, and Illyana arrived back at the mansion in the afternoon, to find it unusually quiet. They thought that the professor might be out, but if he wasn't then he'd sense their thoughts and the surprise party would be ruined. Illyana offered to go in and scout the mansion, as the professor couldn't read _her_ thoughts.

As Illyana entered the mansion Amara asked "She's very strange. Is she a mutant like the rest of us?"

Roberto was the one who answered her. "We don't know. Her brother is."

"She reminds me of Selene." Amara commentated. "The demon sorceress who killed my mother, prayed on my people and tried to steal Dani's soul."

"Illyana isn't like that Amara." Stevie said.

"Can you be sure Stevie?" Roberto asked. "Sometimes, even the _X-Men _seem afraid of her."

At the front door Illyana stopped. She looked down for a few seconds then entered the building.

'Oh no' Stevie thought. "She heard you."

Illyana did hear them. And she was furious. Who were they to judge her? How_ dare_ they? The only thing that stopped her from running back outside was the fact that they were right. She did have a lot more in common with Selene than with the New Mutants. Not for the first time Illyana wondered if she should just leave the mansion before the evil Belesco implanted in her destroys everyone here.

Her brooding cost her. As she entered the living room a huge purple hand seized her. "S'ym greets you Darkchyde, in the name of your master. Belesco misses you and sent S'ym to fetch you." Illyana could have destroyed S'ym with a wave of her hand, but the memories of how S'ym would beat her as a child kept her frozen, even as S'ym began to drive the air from her lungs by squeezing her ribs.

On instinct alone she summoned a light circle that enveloped the New Mutants, Stevie, and Stevie's car. It transported them to Limbo, where they thought they saw a younger Illyana, then into the living room.

"Hey! What are ya doin' with Illyana?" Sam shouted as Illyana lost consciousness.

"She is all S'ym came for. Leave S'ym alone and you will not be hurt."

"We don't take kindly to monsters kidnapping our friends!" Sam yelled as he blasted towards S'ym. He struck S'ym dead in the chest with enough force to level a skyscraper, but S'ym was unaffected. Sam however, was knocked out on impact.

Roberto was next. He transformed to Sunspot and punched S'ym, who was again unaffected. S'ym struck Roberto, knocking him out as well as Rahne, who had transformed into a wolf and was trying to bite him.

DanI then cursed and said "Attacking solo is suicide! We have to work as a team! Amara, I'm going to create an illusuion of whatever he's afraid of; oh, let there be something he's afraid of. When he's distracted hit him with everything you've got!"

Dani created her illusion, which turned out to be Belesco. _**"You disappoint me S'ym. Can I no Longer count on you for even the most trivial of errands?"**_ The apparition asked.

"Belesco!" S'ym screamed. "Have mercy lord. S'ym is loyal to you!"

The illusion laughed and its features began to melt. _**"How sad, for that means you are truly doomed. If you served the Dark Lord, then you must be the sworn enemy of his Darkchylde."**_ it said, turning into a demonic version of Illyana. _**"Either way means a betrayal S'ym. Either betrayal will cost you most dear."**_

S'ym was so convinced and frightened by the illusion that he dropped the real Illyana, who was immediately grabbed by Stevie. She yelled at Dani and Amara to cover her as she escaped with Illyana and then to escape themselves. The were no match for S'ym.

As Stevie fled Amara created a volcano in the living room which dumped lava on S'ym. The lava solidified, trapping S'ym. Amara thought she had won when S'ym burst from his rocky prison, very angry.

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In the elevator to the mansion's lower levels Stevie heard a scream. Stevie realized that that meant the worst and only prayed that she could reach the X-Men's jet in time to get away and call the X-Men. Before she could get out of the elevator S'ym began to pull it up. With little room left Stevie lept from the elevator, hurting her already bad knee. She tried to carry Illyana farther, but only fell when she attempted to walk.

S'ym marched in from behind. "S'ym was only interested in the Darkchylde. But you had to make things difficult. So S'ym will leave your bleached bones out for the X-Men when they return." he said, only to be struck in the face by an energy bolt from a now awake Illyana.

"Don't make promises, braggart, you won't be around to keep." she said as her blast made S'ym grimace in pain and rub his face. Stevie was shocked that while Sam and Roberto couldn't faze S'ym Illyana managed to hurt him.

"So you finally decide to fight for yourself." S'ym snarled at her.

"I'd have done so from the start, had I been able." she answered.

"S'ym's glad. The lesson S'ym means to teach you is long overdue."

In truth, Illyana could have killed S'ym anytime she wanted, but she realized that when using her magics she felt, not good exactly, but better and less empty. She first bound S'ym with mystic chains which he promptly broke out of, then proceeded to cast a series of spells that did not hurt S'ym, but did make him mad and careless. Whe S'ym closed in on her she summoned her soulsword and grazed S'ym's neck with it.

S'ym at last realized that could not fulfill his mission and gave up. "Mercy, Darkchylde! S'ym begs you!"

"Were you as generous with the X-Men?" she taunted, raising her soulsword to deliver the killing blow. His cruelty to her and her friends in Limbo fresh again in her memory.

"S'ym…S'ym is a demon." he whimpered.

S'ym's tone, even more than his words, stayed Illyana's hand. "And I am not. Thank you for reminding me." She then asked "Tell me, what has Belesco been up to?"

S'ym answered truthfully. "He tried to get two more bloodstones, but that plan also failed."

Illyana then began thinking out loud. "Then he sent you to kidnap me again. He must be desperate. He would know that you never stood a chance. Why didn't he come himself?" She had an epiphany. "Unless _he's afraid of me_."

"Agreed." S'ym said. "You drove him from Limbo. S'ym doubts he'll ever return. His throne is yours by right."

Illyana recognized that S'ym was pledging to serve her as the ruler of Limbo. "Its settled then." She said.

"What of the woman?" S'ym asked, motioning towards Stevie. "She has seen much she should not have. Should I dispose of her?"

Illyana summoned a light disk to send S'ym to Limbo. "Be gone monster, before I reconsider and decide to avenge my butchered friends." However, S'ym did have a point, Illyana realized, so she cast a spell on Stevie's memories so that she forgot everything except Illyana's light disk sending S'ym away. Illyana would reveal her mutant power, but her sorcery would remain her secret.

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Later, the professor and the New Mutants decided to have the party rather than clean up after the battle with S'ym. The X-Men finally arrived home during the party, to be shocked by the volcano in the living room.

While the X-Men joined the party Illyana stood by herself in a corner of the room. Xavier moved in his wheelchair close to her and asked how she was doing. "Seeing S'ym again must have reopened old wounds, perhaps some barely healed." Illyana wondered if he knew just what happened in the basement. If you ever wish to talk about it Illyana,"

"Maybe someday professor." she said.

"Well, in the meantime, would you do me the honor of sharing the first waltz?" he asked, rising from his wheelchair to dance with her. They were halfway through the dance before Illyana realized what was happening.

"Professor! Your legs have fully healed! You can walk!" she cried, hugging him. For the first time since she returned from Limbo she had a true smile on her face.

Xavier laughed. "You see child. There is hope for us all." Illyana realized that he knew all about her fight with S'ym.

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Outside the mansion Doug Ramsey was anxious to get inside. He needed to see Kitty Pryde and tell her about the scholarship he had just been offered, to the _Massachusetts Academy._/

I added the bit about Belesco being afraid of her to justify why he never came for her or the Beatrix Medallion afterwards.

Next time: Hellfire Club


	3. Hellfire Club Part 1

Thanks for the review Delora2047. I think that Illyana's powers were defined as her Magik not working at all on Earth _except_ when the writers thought it convenient to the plot. In The issues I'm currently redoing she did cast spells, some powerful ones at that on Earth. I always felt that the idea of her powers not working on Earth was lame in the extreme and only there so that the solution to every problem would be her spells. That's why I consider making her a New Mutant a mistake. But here I don't care about the other characters. And the Belasco spelling, whoops. I guess every time I read his name I read what I wanted to see, because to me Belesco sounds better than Belasco when they're spoken. Hope you continue to enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own no one in this story

/

In the room she shared with Kitty Pryde Illyana sat in the air, hovering over a pentagram of silver fire. As her spell took effect she left her body and her astral form traveled to Massachusetts in the blink of an eye.

Kitty Pryde was supposed to have called the night before. She didn't, and the X-Men had not returned, so Illyana had become slightly worried. After all, Kitty was in the territory of some of the X-Men's most dangerous enemies, The Hellfire Club.

Illyana's worries turned out to be justified, as her astral form found Kitty held in a bunker below the Massachusetts Academy by Emma Frost, the White Queen.

Illyana's first instinct was to attack the Queen and teleport Kitty out of there, but in this astral form she could not interact with anything. It was good solely for spying, as it was undetectable to anyone but another magic user. And Illyana still needed it to find out what happened to the X-Men and Doug Ramsey, the boy Kitty came to the academy with.

In her attempts to break Kitty the White Queen revealed that Doug thought she was with him and would have no idea she was in trouble. Kitty felt hopeless. Doug would never get help and if the X-Men were going to rescue her they would have done so already. She was about to give in when something, or rather someone, caught her eye.

She looked right at where Illyana's astral form was, smiling as if she could see it. The idea that Kitty could see Illyana was stunned the young sorceress, who just stared back at her smiling roommate.

The White Queen also noticed the resurgence of confidence in Kitty. Her first thought was that Charles Xavier must be communicating with Kitty telepathically. She turned around and, to Kitty's horror, shot a psibolt in the direction Kitty was looking, obliterating Illyana's astral form.

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At the X-Men's mansion a loud and painful scream woke up the entire junior team, the New Mutants. They raced towards the room the scream came from, Illyana's room. Finding the door locked, Sam kicked it open, only to face a demon.

That demon, and several others, immediately flew out of the room and into the hall. The whole team except Dani chased after them. Sam was the first to catch one, catching up to it with his superior speed by blasting towards it. Shockingly, the demon dissolved in his hands, and Sam, still blasting, was too surprised to stop and crashed through a window. Roberto, Rahne, and Amara all had similar experiences.

Meanwhile, Dani was trying to help Illyana, who was still floating above the silver pentagram, but seemed unconscious. Smoke was rising from her body and solidifying into more demons. Dani tried to reach Illyana, punching a demon to clear a path, but that demon also dissolved. Other demons grabbed her and threw her to the floor. She hit her head hard, and, barely conscious, summoned an illusion of what the demons were most afraid of. It turned out to be the same demonic version of Illyana that S'ym feared. The apparition growled at the demons, who cowered in fear and disappeared in wisps of smoke. Barely awake, Dani thought that her illusion walked up to her, picked her up, and placed her on a bed.

Dani muttered to herself. "My illusion. It was so horrible, so… _evil_. But Illyana isn't…"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Dani." a normal Illyana replied, wishing that that was true.

"Are you gals okay?" came Sam's voice from the doorway. He and the rest of the New Mutants stood at the entrance to the room with stern expressions on their faces. "Cause if you are we've got some questions for Illyana."

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Illyana sat on one side of the dining room table, facing the New Mutants, who stood or sat on the opposite side. She weighed her options. She could modify their memories, like she did Stevie Hunter's. And every person who would see her powers in the future would also lose that memory. She realized that she was on a dangerous path, but she might still have taken done it if she wasn't thinking about Kitty.

"Well, we're waiting girl." Sam said, impatient.

'Out with it.' she thought. "Those weren't real demons, exactly. They were more like echoes of the real things."

"And where did they come from?"

"Belasco's ultimate plan was to make me a conduit between dimensions. Apparently he succeeded somewhat."

"But what happened to you that they came out now?"

"I was worried about Kitty, so I went to the Massachusetts Academy in an astral form to check on her. She and Doug Ramsey are being held captive there by the White Queen. The White Queen is a telepath. She sensed my astral form and disrupted it, adversely affecting my physical body." Illyana left out the part that it was actually Kitty who detected her astral form.

"But isn't your Mutant power to teleport?"

"It is. I'm actually more than a mutant. I'm also a sorceress." Illyana watched as all of the New Mutants' faces contorted in horror and disgust. She wondered if her brother, Kitty, and the X-Men would react the same way.

Illyana then stood up. "Where do ya think your going?" Sam asked.

"To rescue Kitty." Illyana answered.

"Wait." Dani said. "Since the X-Men aren't around, lets call the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. They're professionals and are better suited for this than any of us." Illyana nodded. It would be better if she didn't have to use her powers at all.

Unfortunately neither super team could be reached. "The Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-men disappear on the same day? That's freaky." Roberto said. "What do we do now?"

"I'm going to rescue Kitty myself." Illyana said.

Dani said "We'll come with you."

"Dani's right." Amara added. "Regardless of how we feel about Kitty, she is our classmate and we have a duty to her."

"This complicates things." Illyana said. "I was willing to teleport myself, but I've only used that power consciously to move from place to place in Limbo, to get out of Limbo, and to send S'ym back to Limbo. I've never gone from place to place on Earth. I'm not willing to take that risk with six people." The New Mutants all looked relieved, especially Rahne.

"So how are we going to go?" Dani asked.

"If we're gonna be superheroes," Roberto said, smiling, "then we're gonna go in style."

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While they waited for the greyhound bus Roberto called everyone went to prepare. Illyana was furious as she went back to her room.

'Blasted hypocrites!' she thought. 'They demand that the world not judge them because their different and then don't extend that courtesy to me.'

She opened her closet and saw Kitty's first uniform, which was identical to what the New Mutants wore. 'If I'm going to be fighting with them then I guess I should wear what they wear, but I never want to be one of them.'

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The bus ride was fairly silent. Dani was looking over everything she found on the Hellfire Club with Sam, Roberto was showing Amara any sights they passed, and Rahne was doing a bad job of hiding the fact that she was staring at Illyana in disgust.

Sam noticed that something was wrong with Rahne and walked over to her. He asked if she was okay.

"Shh, Sam." Rahne whispered. "She'll hear you."

"Who?" he asked. "Illyana?"

"Sam, she's a _witch_."

"So? You're a werewolf."

"I know. Witch and werething are both the spawn of Satan."

"Hold it right there child." Sam said. "I'm a religious guy myself. And I'm a few years older than you. What you _can_ do doesn't make you good or bad. It's what you do that does that. Give yourself a chance to prove that you're good, then give Illyana the same."

Illyana, who heard the whole thing, thought 'If you only knew, Sam… If you only knew…'

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When they arrived they hid in the woods near the Academy and took off their school clothes, revealing their uniforms underneath. They all stopped and stared, however, when they saw that Illyana also had a uniform.

"We didn't know the professor had given you a uniform." Sam said.

"He didn't." Illyana answered. "This was Kitty's. And let me make one thing clear. I have no intention or desire to ever be a New Mutant." With that, she started to walk toward the school.

Dani caught up with her and asked "Why are you being so cold?"

"I'm just returning the favor." she replied.

As they approached the building Illyana cast a cloaking spell to hide them. She then led them throught the school to the bunker where Kitty had been held. She dropped the cloaking spell when they found Kitty tied up in the center of the bunker.

When Illyana tried to untie Kitty her hands passed straight through her roommate. "it's a telepathic illusion!" she shouted. "We've been tricked!" Inwardly she cursed herself. 'I should've noticed. First S'ym and now this. I've _got_ to pay more attention to my mystic senses."

Suddenly, the rescue party was surrounded by armed guards. And above them was another telepathic mirage, of Kitty and the White Queen.

"Welcome to my school." the White Queen said. "I'm sure you'll enjoy it here."/

I always thought that given how the New Mutants treated her it was kind of strange that she agreed to join them so quickly. Oh, and future updates will probably not be this fast.


	4. Hellfire Club Part 2

_Disclaimer: I own nothing here._

/

"Put your hands up!" one the guards pointing guns at the New Mutants shouted. They complied without hesitation.

"Mirage," Illyana whispered, "we could use a distraction." Dani nodded and looked towards Amara.

"Do your thing, Magma." she said. Amara surrounded her body with the molten material that first appeared when the New Mutants fought Selene. Surprised and frightened, the guards all fired at her, but their bullets only melted upon contact. Amara raised her hands, and an earthquake shook the entire complex. The floor beneath their feet cracked, and an instant later the lights went out, leaving the bunker in total darkness. Emergency lights came on only a few seconds later, but the New Mutants were nowhere to be seen.

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Amara's ploy had given Illyana, who still wanted as few people as possible to know about her powers, the chance to cast another cloaking spell without being seen. The young heroes fled to an empty room, also below the school, to form a new plan.

"Kitty and Doug Ramsey must still be here somewhere," Dani said, "the question is, where."

Illyana looked down. "The White Queen's probably expecting me to use my astral form again, so that's out of the question," she said, "but if you want information, then find a source."

Dani nodded. They had no choice. Sam and Roberto were sent out to find subjects to interrogate. They came back several minutes later with two female guards.

"We're looking for a couple of friends of ours." Dani said. "And we were hoping that you'd tell us wear they are."

One of the captive guards replied that they just weren't in the mood for conversation.

"Wanna bet?" Dani threatened. She conjured an illusion of the guards worst fear, the White Queen, in a very angry mood.

Although visibly shaken, the guards still refused to talk. One of them spoke up. "You…kids…may think…that you're heroes,… but you're really…just as bad… as the White Queen herself."

Dani turned away and struggled not to cry. 'They were right' she thought. In the past she hurt people because she couldn't control her powers. Now she was _deliberately_ hurting people while in full control.

Meanwhile, Illyana took over the interrogation. She did not say anything, but just glared at the guards, who recoiled in fear from her eyes. Barely a minute of her glare was enough to make the guards think that Illyana wasn't _as_ bad as the White Queen. She was _worse_.

As they revealed the locations of Kitty and Doug Dani regained her composure. She realized that to pull off the rescue they would need every advantage they could get. That meant creating confusion by cutting the power. "One more thing." She said. "Where are the generators that power this complex?"

After the guards answered that final question Illyana waved her hand over them. Their eyes closed and their bodies slumped. "You killed them!" Rahne exclaimed.

"No. Their just asleep." Illyana said.

Dani then began to formulate a plan. "We'll have to split into three groups. Sam and Amara will take out the generators, Rahne and Roberto will find Doug, and Illyana and I will find Kitty." Dani assumed, correctly, that none of her teammates would be willing to go with Illyana. "We'll all meet outside the apartment Doug is staying in."

"There's a little problem." Illyana said. "I can't cloak three groups. I can, however…" She again waved her hand, and changed all of their uniforms into copies of the uniforms the Hellfire Club's guards wore, except for Rahne's, since Illyana couldn't duplicate the unstable molecules in her uniform that allowed it to survive Rahne's transformations.

With that the young heroes were off.

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Sam and Amara were the closest to their goal. They quickly found the generators which were then destroyed by another earthquake from Amara. They then took what for them now was the shortest route to the apartment Doug was in, but Roberto and Rahne were nowhere to be seen.

It must have been odd for two guards to be out on the grounds, since someone else was there to greet them. The sound of a rocket gave them enough warning to duck as a man with a jetpack and dressed in a pink uniform flew just over them. Sam immediately blasted after their assailant while Amara transformed.

The moment Amara transformed another man in pink came up next to her. His eyes glowed and he said "You hate your companion, don't you."

Now entranced, Amara replied "Yes." and shot a blast of lava at Sam, who was surprised, but unhurt as he was invulnerable while blasting. The jetpacked person he was chasing was not invulnerable, however, and had to swerve to avoid being hit by the lava. He turned too quickly and hit his head on a tree branch at high speed. Unconscious, he fell towards the ground, which was covered in lava from Amara's attack. He was only saved from death by Sam turning back and catching him before he hit the ground.

Sam then flew right at the person who was possessing Amara and punched him as he passed. Sam returned to Amara's side to see if she was alright. She was more than a little angry, but was pervented from venting when Doug came running out of the apartment.

"I don't believe it!" he yelled. "You guys are actually _superheroes_! Wait to I tell…Kitty." He trailed off has he saw the white Queen arrive from behind.

The Queen placed illusions in their minds. For Sam she appeared as a version of Amara that returned his feelings for her. To Amara she appeared as her long dead mother. The White Queen then erased Doug's memories of the whole affair, just as Illyana had recently done to Stevie hunter. She took the defeated mutants back into the school with her.

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Roberto and Rahne went straight towards the apartment wear Doug was staying, but soon reached a locked door. Roberto transformed into Sunspot and ripped the door from its hinges, only to be punched in the face by a giant Native American.

Rahne, in full wolf form, leapt at the attacker, who caught her. She turned into her halfway form, and used his shock to throw him across the room. Before Rahne could finish him off, however, a disk of black light sailed over her head. Immediately a large bookshelf near where she was standing tipped over and fell on her.

Roberto went over to her and lifted the bookshelf off of her, but another disk of black light brought with it agony in his lower back. He collapsed, dropping the bookshelf back on Rahne.

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While Illyana and Dani were on their way to where Kitty was being held Dani suddenly screamed out in pain and collapsed. "Its Rahne." she said. "Something's happened to her.

Before Illyana could ask what she was grabbed from behind and dragged towards the ceiling by a large, grey furred cat. It was clearly not a cat, though, as it said "Intruder go hush bye."

Dani struggled to her feet, to be confronted by a girl in pink, who conjured a figure of the devil out of a card in her hand.

Held on the ceiling, Illyana pivoted, kicking the cat creature. They both dropped to the floor, Illyana landing on both feet while using a hand to brace herself and the cat creature landing on all fours. The creature then launched itself at Illyana, but it could not fight as well as Cat had in Limbo, and Illyana had killed Cat in a brawl. An elbow to the forehead knocked out the cat creature.

Illyana then turned to Dani, who was being held by the devil conjuration with a chain around her neck. Worse yet, her figures were turning demonic as the devil seemed to be corrupting her in his own image.

Illyana lost her temper then, as one thought only went through her mind. 'What happened to me won't happen to_ anyone_ else _ever_ again.' She summoned her soulsword and swung it through the devil, disrupting it. The girl who conjured it groaned in pain as she felt the psychic backlash of her creation being destroyed. She then gazed in horror as a furious Illyana charged at her with the soulsword.

Desperate, she conjured another figure from her cards, a dark horseman. He charged at Illyana, who was trampled by his steed. There were loud cracks as many of her bones snapped, but as the horseman passed she swiped at him with her soulsword in her good hand, and disrupted him as well. The second psychic backlash proved too much for the one who conjured his, as she fainted.

Just then the White Queen entered, attempting to pull the same trick she used on Sam and Amara. 'Damn.' she thought. 'I've placed an image in Danielle's mind, but the Rasputin girl's is closed to me!'

Illyana summoned a light disk and grabbed Dani's arm with her good hand. "Illyana," Dani said, "that's my grandfather! But I saw him _die!"_

"Ignore it!" Illyana yelled at her. "it's the White Queen! We're both hurt, no match for her! We've got to run!" She and Dani jumped into the light circle, which vanished with them.

'Enjoy your brief freedom children,' the White Queen thought, 'the Hellfire Club will find you wherever you hide.'/


	5. Hellfire Club Part 3

_I found a preview for X-Infernus issue 2 at ____.?fuseaction=&friendID=92159514&blogID=460092828_

_It looks to be much better than issue 1, where little happened. Here Illyana also seems to be very powerful on Earth as well as Limbo and seams real vicious. Lets hope she isn't just being brought back to die again and that Marvel treats her right this time around. _

_I probably should have added in the last chapter when Rahne accused Illyana of killing the guards that Rahne was ready to assume the worst about Illyana._

_Oh, and how many uniforms in a closet could have fit Sam or Rahne, although Rahne went without one altogether._

_Disclaimer: All characters are the property of marvel comics._

/

"Well class," the White Queen said, "lets review the results of the battle."

"Miss Frost, who were they?" the Native American who punched Roberto asked. "I joined you to get revenge on the X-Men for my brother's death, (_Author's note: James Proudstar's brother was the original Thunderbird and was killed on one of his first missions as an X-Man._) not to beat up children."

"You will get your chance, James, but you are not yet ready, as is proved by the fact that I had to intervene in two out of three battles." she replied. "These children may be considered your opposites. They, like the X-Men, are wards of Charles Xavier. They call themselves the New Mutants. Now Jetstream, I would like to here from you first."

The mutant Sam saved said "Empath's blunder nearly got me killed. There was no need to make the girl attack her friend and put me in the line of fire. I could have beaten him easily, as I can maneuver much better than him."

Empath spoke up. "What Jetstream says is true. My actions were reckless and did put him in danger."

The White Queen nodded. "It takes a brave man to admit his mistakes, Emanuel." She did not need to read his mind to know that he had an ulterior motive for his admission, since he thought himself perfect and valued nothing and no one besides himself. "James, what do you have to say?"

"I think that Roulette and I were lucky." The girl who threw the disks of black light grinned at his unintentional pun. Her disks did give their opponents bad luck. "We had the element of surprise, and the fight may have gone the other way without it. The wolf girl seems well skilled and agile and the dark one may be stronger than me. He also seems to have very honorable, helping his comrade rather than engage us."

The White Queen nodded. "I believe that he _is _stronger than you. Tarrot?"

The girl who conjured figures out of cards said "I'm worried about the blonde girl. Seems to be able to do so much, outfighting Catseye, creating or summoning an energy sword that can disrupt my cards, then making a disk of light appear that she disappears into."

The White Queen had to agree with Tarrot. 'Not to mention,' she thought, 'that her mind is completely closed to me and the guards the New Mutants captured reported that there was something about her eyes, but they were too frightened to say what they saw in them. She'd tried to read the New Mutants' minds to find out the girl's powers, but Xavier had taught them too well. Not only were their psychic defenses able to keep her from reading all but their surface thoughts, but they were being very careful _not_ to think about what she could do.'

'There might be a way to trick them into giving me the information I want.'

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In the room where the New Mutants and Kitty Pryde were being held prisoner, albeit rather comfortably, Amara said "If this is what the White Queen considers a prison I'd love to see her version of a palace!"

"For all the niceties a prison is still a prison Amara." Kitty said.

"Ya know," Sam started, surveying the door, "the door in here isn't much; 'Berto or I could probably smash it down."

"Sam," kitty replied, "do you think I'd still be here if I could phase through the walls? The room has some sort of field that inhibits our mutant powers." Sam went back to his bed, dejected. "By the way, what the heck possessed you to come rescue me? I appreciate it; don't get me wrong, but the Hellfire Club is among the X-Men's deadliest enemies!"

"Well," Sam said, "we wouldn't have come, but ya see, the night you were captured the X-Men disappeared, and with them the Fantastic Four and the Avengers."

Kitty was horrified by this revelation. "Oh no."

"Hey, don't despair," Roberto said, trying to spread optimism among the group. "There'e still hope! Dani and Illyana weren't captured with us!"

"How desperately you cling, Roberto," the White Queen's voice rang in their heads, "to the frailest of threads. There was no need to hold them. Miss Rasputin was only to eager to betray her companion to us and was instrumental in quickly…convincing Danielle to join us."

"Liar." Kitty said. "I refuse to believe you."

"And why not?" Rahne asked. She looked angry. "I wouldn't put_ anything_ past Illyana."

"Rahne!" Kitty scolded.

The White Queen laughed in their heads. "Believe what you will. Oh, and by the way, thank you for telling me that _three_ teams of superheroes have disappeared."

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Unfortunately for the White Queen, she still was unable to get any useful information about the girls whose disappearance concerned her the most. The shock had caused the New Mutants' guards to slip, but only allowed her to see that they all had a measure of dislike for Illyana, especially Rahne, whose dislike bordered on hatred and whose defenses fell the most. In her mind Rahne had called Illyana a 'witch.' 'Something she picked up from the fanatical Christians who raised her.' the White Queen thought.

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In a place straight out of Dante's _Divine Comedy_, several monsters surrounded two teenage girls lying on the ground. One monster proved bolder than the others, and approached them, believing them both to be unconscious. One was awake, however, and near a thick stick. Right as the monster came close enough to her she grabbed the stick and struck the monster in the face with it.

Danielle Moonstar then looked around at the other monsters surrounding her and Illyana. She created an illusion of the thing they feared most, which, like the demons that the New Mutants recently chased through the mansion, was a demonic looking Illyana.

Dani breathed a sigh of relief as the monsters ran away, but was quickly forced to gasp by a voice behind her.

"G'day, sweetums. Is this a social call, or d'you plan on staying?"

"S..s..S'ym!" Dani breathed, backing away in fear.

S'ym walked forward, then stopped and picked Illyana up. "Don't touch her!" Dani yelled.

S'ym looked at Dani. "She's hurt pretty badly. How did she get this way?"

This was the last thing Dani expected. "She was..trampled by a horse."

"A _horse?_" He looked at the sorceress in his arms in surprise. "S'ym… doesn't understand." He started to walk off with Illyana, then turned around and growled "_follow_."

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Hours later, Illyana finally opened her eyes, and was not pleased by what she saw.

"I'd hoped…never to see this place again." she said, laying on a bed with a demonic headpiece.

"Illyana, you're awake!" Dani was very relieved.

"So it would seem." Illyana replied, grimacing as she forgot about her broken bones and tried to move. "what happened?"

"S'ym brought us here." Dani said. "But, I mean I'm grateful for the help, but I thought he was your enemy?"

"Things," Illyana said, "and loyalties, have changed. Right S'ym?"

"You're the boss cutie" he said.

Illyana then asked about their change in clothing. She was wearing a green version of what Selene wore when she fought the New Mutants and Dani wore what amounted to an animal skin bikini. "S'ym, where are our clothes?"

S'ym laughed. "You're the magus. You rule Limbo. Your friend acted as your champion, did a pretty good job too. S'ym thought it…appropriate you both look the part."

"You know," Dani said, "I was worried you wouldn't wake up, and that I'd be trapped here forever."

"What's wrong with that?" S'ym laughed again. "S'ym would have seen to it that you were kept… amused."

Illyana had had enough of the banter of her demon. "Vanish beast," she said, summoning a light disk to send him to another part of Limbo, "you've outstayed your welcome." She looked at Dani. "You know, I never expected him to be loyal without my threatening to slit his throat."

"What do we do now?" Dani asked.

"I need to figure something out." Illyana said. "I meant to take us back to the mansion, not to Limbo. Something went wrong with the…disk. Of course! If I'd bothered to practice with my power at all I'd have realized; my disks originate in Limbo. When I travel with them I then always have to go _through _Limbo.

"Now, you'd better move away from the bed Dani." Illyana said, beginning to float. As Dani backed away a pentagram of silver fire appeared below Illyana. Dani knew enough about sorcery from movies to know that usually silver fire meant white magic, but Illyana was facing the base of the star, which was the direction someone practicing black magic would face.

'I don't get it.' she thought. 'Is Illyana good or bad? Is it possible to mix the two?' DanI was never more scared of Illyana than she was at that moment, but decided that the movies she'd seen must have gotten their facts wrong and that Illyana was just using white magic.

The silver flames rose up and enveloped Illyana, eating away at any scrapes or bruise she had and mending her bones as if they were never broken. She floated back down to the bed, felt her ribs to be sure they her all fixed and stretched her newly healed arm.

"Do you still have the guards' uniforms, Dani?" she asked. Dani nodded and went to get them. After they were changed Illyana teleported them back to the Massachusetts Academy.

They arrived in a hall in the school. Before they could begin searching for the New Mutants the New Mutants found them. Dani and Illyana heard voices coming up from behind, and quickly ran into the nearest room so they would not be seen. They watched a group of people wearing the same pink uniforms that the women they fought wore pass by, but half of them were the _New Mutants_.

"What are they doing?" Illyana asked. "Wearing the same outfits as the White Queen's students and socializing with them like they were the best of friends?"

"Look out the window." Dani said. "It was winter, and the middle of the night, when we first came, now its daylight, and the_ summer_."

"What?" Illyana searched for something in the room with a date and found a calendar. "It isn't possible! Dani, over a _year_ has passed since we came to rescue Kitty!"

"So," Dani said, "your disks must move through _time_ as well as space."

"But," Illyana asked, "Professor Xavier wouldn't have abandoned them. He would have tried to rescue them."

"Maybe he did and failed, or maybe he and the X-Men never returned from wherever they disappeared to."

Illyana took a deep breath. "Then we've got to try to go back in time. We're the only ones with a chance to change things."

"Is that even possible?" Dani asked.

Illyana answered with a question of her own. "Do we have a choice?"

Just then the White Queen burst through the door. "Thankfully, girls, the choice has been taken out of you hands. Your friends have missed you terribly as have-good lord!" she exclaimed as Illyana summoned a stepping disk to escape.

"That's cutting it a little close, Illyana." Dani complained when they arrived safely in the same room. "I thought she had us for sure."

"I didn't want to 'port blind." Illyana explained. "I need a little more time to aim for a specific time."

"Okay. Just next time make those preparations in _Limbo_." Dani looked out the window. "At least its winter now. What does the calendar say?"

"We still missed, Dani!" Illyana exclaimed, looking at the calendar. "Its nearly a week after the fight!"

"Then we may be too late." Dani said. "The damage may already be done. Do you want to try again?"

Illyana sighed. "No. I don't think I can get us any closer."

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The New Mutants and Kitty were sleeping until someone turned on the lights. They looked up to see the White Queen's students walking through the door.

"You're taking a big risk coming in here." Sam said. "The inhibitor field affects your powers the same as ours."

"Let me speak." James Proudstar said. "We Hellions are here because we want to be here. Most of us," he glared at Empath, "do not like the idea of your being kept here against your will. We've decide to give you a chance for freedom. We shall hold a match. If your champion defeats ours, you can leave. If our champion defeats yours, you stay."

The New Mutants were skeptical of the Hellions' intentions. "Did your precious Queen sanction this match?" Roberto asked.

"She knows nothing about it. She is currently in Boston on business. So, do you accept?"

"And what if we don't?" came a new voice from the doorway. The New Mutants looked past the Hellions, who turned around, to see Illyana and Dani standing in the doorway.

Sam smiled. "Be careful, gals. There's a field in here that disrupts our_ mutant_ powers."

Understanding, Illyana stepped forward. She extended her hands, and a burst of energy came out of them, pushing the Hellions against the back wall and holding them there.

"They must have disabled the inhibitor field!" Empath yelled. He then tried to call on his mutant powers. "Do you not love Empath?" he asked Illyana, who looked at him in disgust,

'This one,' she decided, 'needs a lesson in humility.' She waved several of her fingers, and Empath's entire body began to itch horribly. To make matters worse for him, he was still bound by Illyana's mystic chains and unable to scratch.

The New Mutants, Illyana, and Kitty left the room and turned the hall, to come face to face with the heads of the Hellfire Club, the White Queen and Sebastian Shaw. "Well, Emma," Shaw said, "we seemed to have arrived back at an awkward moment.

Sam and Roberto began to charge them, but Illyana held them back. "Leave it to me." she said.

Illyana stepped in front of the group and glared at Shaw and the White Queen, letting part of her evil show in her eyes. The two Hellfire Club members recoiled in terror from her glare, as it reminded them of the entity they feared the most, the Phoenix. "You will leave alone Charles Xavier and everyone that has anything to do with them," she threatened, every word dripping with more venom than any of the New Mutants had ever heard before, "or I will show you what Hell really is."

Illyana then cast a flare spell, momentarily blinding Shaw and the White Queen. When the villians looked up, their was no sign of the New Mutants.

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In order to get back to the grounds outside the mansion they had to pass through Limbo, much to the chagrin of the New Mutants. "That place is really scary." Sam said. "Do you really have to go through there every time you teleport.

"Afraid so, Sam." Illyana answered, hoping that they arrived on the same date.

"I've been to Hell!" Rahne breathed.

As they went into the mansion Dani heard a voice. "_**Moonstar, as I claimed your parents, soon I will claim you.**_"

/

_I put in the part about the White Queen not knowing about Illyana's powers because I doubt that she'd leave the school if she was expecting an attack from a sorceress._

_I also would like to say, I never understood why if Illyana had to go through Limbo the teleporting was harder to control when the distance increased. If you're already traveling via another dimension then what does it matter whether you're going five feet or five galaxies._

_Next time: Demon Bear_


	6. Demon Bear Part 1

_Whoops. I didn't realize that fanfiction doesn't allow websites to be written in stories. You can find the preview for X-Infernus 2 at uncannyxmen (with a dot net). Head to the forums section, check the previews page and you should find a link to the preview._

_Everything S'ym said in chapter 5, including the dirty remarks and calling Dani Illyana's 'champion,' is a direct quote from the original comic, except for what he said when he picked Illyana up. That part I added, although I don't think S'ym's pauses were there originally. _

_I was actually going to introduce the concept of Illyana's being drained by really powerful spells in chapter 7. Until now I don't think she's done anything that a third rate sorcerer couldn't do, with the exception of beating S'ym._

_The fight between Cannonball and Jetstream was one of the things I regretted leaving out, as was the scene where Jetstream assaulted Empath._

_Disclaimer: I'm trying to buy the characters from Marvel, but they say that I'm not offering enough._

/

It had been two days since the New Mutants returned from the Massachusetts Academy, and there was still no sign of the X-Men or Professor Xavier, whom they needed more than ever. Dani and Illyana did not know whether or not they could trust Kitty or the rest of the New Mutants anymore. After all, they had spent several days as prisoners of one of the most powerful telepaths on Earth. Only the professor would be able to tell if she had done anything to their minds. Adding to their worries was the fact that they had traveled to the future and seen the New Mutants joined up with the Hellions.

Illyana might have gone back in time to see what happened to them, but she did not have enough control to move forwards or backwards through time at will yet. She spent much of the time practicing teleporting and coming back from Limbo at the same time she left, and had managed to cut the discrepancy from over twenty minutes to about thirty seconds.

She and Dani decided that if the professor would not help them they would have to figure out if there were any adverse affects on their classmates the only way they could think of, a danger room session.

The idea was to see if their performance had decreased, which would be evidence of mental tampering. Kitty had seen through their intentions right away, and agreed that it was necessary.

The session was a simple one: fight an army of robots, big and small. Kitty showed the most finesse, dodging attacks rather than fasing through them, and letting the New Mutants actually do the job of destroying them.

As a wolf Rahne bit off important wires on the robots' bodies and in her half way form she threw them into each other. Roberto got into the fight, hitting the robots without holding back and sending there heads flying. Amara melted many of the robots with lava blasts. Sam smashed through other robots with his blasting power.

One extremely large robot swatted at Sam, who was unable to dodge in time. It grabbed him and through him at Amara. He could not blast again without hitting her harder than he was already going to, so he twisted his body as Nightcrawler taught him, then blasted off in another direction.

In the observation booth Illyana said "I wondered whether Sam's clumsiness was a result of his not thinking at all or thinking things through too much. I guess it's the latter."

"The prof' agrees with you." Dani said, looking through Xavier's files on Kitty and the New Mutants. "Well, their performance seems to be on par with what they could do before."

"So should we end the session?" Illyana asked, as another large robot grabbed Amara from behind and lifted her into the air.

"Nah." Dani said, putting the files away and watching Amara melt the robot who held her by increasing the temperature of her body. Amara began to fall, but Sam, who had a crush on her, caught her. He didn't need to, though, as she would have cushioned her impact by melting the floor.

Dani and Illyana had done all they could for her teammates, but there was something else troubling Dani. She had had nightmares both nights since they came back about the bear that killed her parents. She could _feel_ it getting closer, and knew that it was coming for _her_.

Dani considered confiding in Illyana her fears, but didn't. Even though she'd fought alongside her she still feared Illyana as must as the Hellfire Club's leaders now did. They had even immediately revoked Doug Ramsey's invitation to the Massachusetts Academy and sent him home. Dani knew, however, that the respite would only be temporary, and even more so if the X-Men and professor never came back. In that case Xavier's students may have no choice but to go to the Massachusetts Academy. They would be outcasts anywhere else.

That would have been Dani's chief concern, but the bear was still coming for her.

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It was freezing, probably below zero, and the wind gusted over thirty miles an hour. Dani, armed with a bow and arrows, was protected from the cold by her uniform, but already had frostbite on her face.

She heard a roar from behind her and ducked as a large paw flew over her head. She rolled in the snow several meters away, knocked an arrow, and as the bear charged her fired the arrow into its neck, killing it. She knocked another arrow and waited. Another bear appeared to her side and bit at her. She stumbled backwards to avoid its teeth and fell down, dropping her bow. She grabbed another arrow from her quiver and, as the bear made another attempt to bite her head off, shoved the arrow into its mouth. A small sound escaped the bear's throat, and it fell on top of Dani, dead.

"Enough, Illyana." Dani said. The bear, and the cold environment, disappeared, leaving only Dani lying on the floor of the danger room.

"Its about time." Illyana said, coming down from the control room. "You look beat."

"Heh." Dani grinned. "You should see the _other_ guy."

"Illusions and robots, Dani. If I flick a switch they'll be as good as new. Can you say the same? I've noticed the past few days that you've been getting edgier, more nervous. Every night you're in here fighting _bears._ I've also sensed something sinister hovering over the mansion. Whatever it is, it has something to do with _you_, right?" Dani nodded. "Well, what is it?"

"No." Dani refused to answer. "I don't want anyone else getting hurt."

This made Illyana angry. "_Do you think that I'm just some silly magician? Do you think you've seen even a glimpse of the horrors I've faced?_" she yelled._ "_You still have no idea what I'm truly capable of. " After a pause Illyana went on. "That's why you're not telling me what's out there, isn't it? You're as afraid of me as you are of what's coming."

"No!" Dani exclaimed. "That's not it at all! This is just… something that I have to do alone."

Illyana turned away, saying, "I'll send flowers."

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As Illyana went to her room she made a mental note to ask the other New Mutants what the connection was between Dani and bears in the morning. When she first came back from Limbo she had been somewhat paranoid, constantly sensing for the approach of Belasco, but as the months passed she grew complacent, and stopped paying attention to her mystic senses. She paid for that mistake when S'ym attacked and when the White Queen managed to fool her with an illusion of Kitty, and had now begun to focus on her senses again. She felt for the dark presence that seemed to be affecting Dani, and when she felt that it had come no closer since the beginning of the day she got into bed and cast a spell on herself for a dreamless sleep.

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Dani had no such option. If she tried to sleep all she would see would be the bear. As long as it was out there it would constantly haunt her. The only way she could ever have peace, Dani realized, was to face the bear. What she had told Illyana was not a complete lie; others had already died protecting her from the bear, namely her parents, and she wanted no more deaths on her conscience. If the bear only wanted _her_, she decided, it would _get_ her.

Dani prepared herself for battle. She changed into a clean uniform, adorned her face with Indian war paint, readied her bow and filled her quiver with arrows. She marched out onto the grounds.

"**Bear!**" she shouted. "Come! Danielle Moonstar summons you!"

Immediately in front of her appeared the bear. It was much larger than the bears in the danger room, about thirty feet tall on its hind legs.

Dani created an illusion of what the bear feared most, and was quite surprised that _she_ was the bear's greatest fear. As the bear slashed at the illusion she shot an arrow into its throat, a killing shot.

It only made the bear mad. It swiped at her, knocking away her bow. It grabbed her, picked her up, and opened its mouth to eat her.

Dani grabbed an arrow from her quiver and before the bear could bite her she shoved it into the roof of the bear's mouth. The bear dropped her, howling in pain, and she ran towards where her bow lay. She knocked three arrows, and as the bear turned towards her fired them all into its mouth. The bear howled again, then fell to the ground and lay still.

"I don't believe it!" Dani exclaimed out loud. "I've won! I've slaughtered the demon that killed my parents!" She did not notice a slight twitching in the bear's nearest paw. "At last their spirits are at rest, and the nightmare is over.." Dani never even saw the claws that flashed towards her.

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"**Dani!" **Rahne screamed, waking up even Kitty and Illyana, who shared a room on the other side of the mansion. She changed into a wolf and race towards the front door and onto the grounds, followed closely by the rest of the New Mutants, Kitty, and Illyana.

"Rahne," Roberto said, "slow down and change so you can tell us what's going on.

Rahne turned back into a human. "Its Dani! I felt so much fear from her, then pain, and then _nothing_." The reason why was discovered not to far away: Dani's body, broken, with blood still oozing onto the snow.

_/This is the last daily update. on Friday I won't have a chance._


	7. Demon Bear Part 2

_Disclaimer: I still don't own these characters_

/

Illyana, Kitty, and the New Mutants watched as Dani was rushed into the emergency room. One of the police officers stationed at the hospital, Tom Corsi, took them into a nearby room for questioning.

"I haven't seen wounds this bad since my military days." He said. "What the heck happened to her?"

"Near as we can tell, sir," Sam answered, "she was mauled by a bear."

Corsi looked skeptical. "A bear, right."

"Of course, Senor," Roberto said, smiling through gritted teeth, "this is all one huge practical joke."

"Hey, those injuries are real enough to convince me, but I've never heard of a _bear_ doing that to a person.

"So you've got a man killer on the loose!" Roberto yelled at Corsi. "Stop standing around like an idiot and do something about it!"

Corsi gave Roberto a hard look. "I know that you're worried about your friend, but watch your mouth boy. We'll organize a search for your bear, although the snow is likely to have covered up any footprints. it's a miracle you managed to get here at all, let alone with her still alive."

At that moment one of the nurses, Sharon Freelander, walked in. "Do any of you know Dani's parents? We have to contact them about this."

"Her parents are dead." Sam answered. "Professor Xavier is Dani's legal guardian, but he's in Boston now." All of Dani's classmates wished what Sam said was true. "He should be back tomorrow, but the storm might keep him."

"What are her chances, nurse?" Illyana asked.

"I won't lie to you. Their not good. Tonight, during the surgery, is when she's in the most danger. If she can make it through the night then her chances will improve significantly."

This actually meant that Dani was going to survive. When they first found her, Illyana had lied, saying that she had no spell to heal others. The truth was that she didn't dare attempt it, since her magic was partly black and she did not know what effect it would have. Instead she teleported them all to Limbo, where she rummaged through Belasco's old stores for several magical herbs. Those herbs were supposed to keep Dani alive for a full day, regardless of her injuries. Illyana then teleported them to the hospital closest to the mansion. No one knew or cared whether they timeslipped or not, but there had been a snowstorm when they left.

"You kids probably want to stay the night, with your friend here and the storm out." the nurse said. "I'll have a place for you to sleep set up." She then walked out with Corsi.

Alone now, the New Mutants, Kitty, and Illyana turned the discussion to what they should do.

"Damn this snow!" Roberto said. "We should be out hunting for that bear!"

"We don't have to do that, Bobby." Sam said. "The bear's going to come here." most of the group, except Illyana, looked at him in surprise. "Ever since we knew her Dani's been afraid of this demon bear that killed her parents. None of us took it seriously; after all who believes in magic? "'Cept Illyana's a real witch, and we've fought demons and sorceresses. Now for the past few days Illyana says that Dani's been in the danger room, fighting _bears_, and tonight she puts on war paint, goes outside, and gets mauled. It looks like Dani was right all along. The bear didn't manage to kill her, though, so smart money says it'll try again. If I'm right, then we're Dani's only hope." He opened a bag and emptied the uniforms of Kitty and the New Mutants.

"Your right Sam." Kitty said. "We're probably going to have to fight this thing. Our first priority should be keeping Dani safe through all this."

She looked at Illyana, who thought for a moment. "You're looking for a shield that can be sustained for an extended period of time and can take a lot of punishment right?" Kitty nodded. "I've got something like that, although there's a downside. It comes from my life force, so it could be very draining on me, and if it gets hit, I'll feel the full force of the blow."

Kitty sighed. "We don't have much of a choice." She then turned to Rahne, who had been crying silently. Dani was, after all, her best friend. "We need to know just what it is we're up against. Rahne, can you use your psilink with Dani to get that information?"

Illyana nodded. "Find out if she knows how to beat it." She wanted to know how Dani could be so _stupid _as to march outside and challenge the creature.

Rahne shifted into her halfway form. 'Dani,' she sent, 'can you here me?'

'Yeah,' came Dani's reply. 'Rahne, there is something I must tell you.'

'But Dani, I can barely here you!' In response Dani tried to force herself to wake up, alarming her doctors. They gave her more sedatives, ending her conversation with Rahne.

"I nearly killed her!' Rahne sobbed.

"Hey," Kitty said, 'I'm the one who told you to speak to her. Its my fault, not yours."

Illyana was unsympathetic. "Dani will be all right as long as we keep that thing away from her. What did you find out?"

"I couldn't really understand what she was saying, that's why she forced herself to wake up, but I think she said that the bear was_ afraid of her,_ because she had the power to destroy it."

"Then why didn't she use that power to save herself?" Amara asked.

"I don't know!" Rahne wailed. "How are we supposed to beat this thing? Its _magic."_

"So?" Illyana asked.

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The hospital was quiet. The only people awake were the doctors treating Dani, Roberto and Illyana, who stood guard outside the surgery, and Tom Corsy and Nurse Freelander, who were engaged in conversation in the hospital lobby. Corsi was working his way up to asking the nurse out on a date when they heard a grow behind them.

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The New Mutants and Kitty were woken up by a gunshot. They raced towards the lobby, which they found empty except for a large bloodstain on the floor.

"We have to warn Roberto and Illyana!" Amara said.

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Roberto looked through the window of the surgery, praying that Dani would make it.

"You'd better stay clear of the doors." Illyana said. "I'm casting the wards." She glowed for a moment, and let a piece of the glow leave her body to surround the surgery. Illyana then collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily and looking worried.

"Will it work?" Roberto asked. "Will your shield keep out the bear?"

Rising, Illyana said "We're about to find out." The bear stepped out of the shadows, growling at them.

"Let me at him!" Roberto yelled, transforming and running at the bear.

"Don't!" Illyana yelled after him. "You're not invulnerable!" The bear just swatted Roberto aside. "I told you dumiiiieeee!" she screamed as the bear slashed at her, it's claws raking her arms.

'No time to be fancy;' she thought, 'I need my soulsword.' She wondered why she didn't feel any pain in her arm, and freaked when she looked at it. "What the hell?!" Where her jacket had been ripped there was instead of flesh a jagged and torn piece of metal. Illyana did not let that distract her for long. She trusted her soulsword into the bear's flesh. It screamed in pain. Its eyes began to glow and then it vanished.

"Are you all right Kitty asked as she and the rest of the New Mutants ran into the hall. "Where's the bear?"

"Gone." Illyana said, feeling her arm. The strange growth had vanished, leaving her jacket as good as new.

As Sam helped Roberto up the lights went out, plunging the hospital into complete darkness. A second later the backup generators kicked in, restoring the lights.

"The bear's trying to kill her now by cutting the power and stopping the operation." Kitty said. "It seems pretty intelligent for a bear. Illyana, you need to cast another shield over this place's backup generators. Sam and Roberto will stay here to guard Dani and the rest of us will go with you to cover you while you cast your spell."

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"These wards won't be as strong as the others." Illyana said after she had cast the second set over the generators. "I'm running pretty close to empty."

"Make them as strong as you can." Kitty said.

"Rahne, when you spoke to Dani did you find out _anything_ else?" Illyana asked.

"I've told you all I know, witch!" Rahne shouted at her.

"Look Rahne, I'm not.. arg!" bruises appeared on Illyana's face as she collapsed. "The bear…he's attacking the wards where Dani is!"

"Should we go help Roberto and Sam?" Rahne asked.

"Stay here!" Amara ordered as she and Kitty helped Illyana up. "Don't ever desert a comrade, especially if she's injured."

'Comrade?' Illyana wondered. 'But I'm not even a New Mutant.'

At that moment the bear appeared, along with Sam and Roberto. "Shoot! This thing can teleport!" Sam yelled.

Rahne turned into a wolf and latched on to the bear's flesh, biting and scratching it. Amara shot a fireball at the bear, causing it to scream out in pain again.

The bear lashed out at the nearest person, Illyana, raking her back. Again the metallic growth returned, saving her from injury. The bear tried to break through the wards Illyana put over the generators, and more bruise formed on her body.

"Drive the bear away from the generator!" she yelled. "My wards are weakening! I can't maintain them much longer!"

Kitty got between the bear and the generators, using her phasing powers to try to lure the bear away from the generators, but to not avail.

Illyana then tried to get close enough to use her soulsword on the bear again, but it grabbed Rahne from off of its fur and threw her at Illyana, knocking both of them over.

'The bear knows that my soulsword can kill it.' Illyana realized. 'And its trying to keep me at bay. Its time that I used some long range tactics.

"Everybody get behind me!" Illyana yelled. Her classmates all ran behind her as she unleashed a thick and heavy lightning barrage at the bear. The creature howled in pain again as its fur was constantly singed by the lightning and stopped attacking. It slowly sagged towards the ground.

Kitty and the New Mutants were awestruck by the attack, but Illyana felt her power slipping. She couldn't maintain her assault long enough to knock the bear out, let alone kill it. Just before she dropped the attack the bear raised its paw and slammed the ground, knocking everyone over.

Illyana was the last to rise. Between her attack and the bear's hitting the floor she had lost the wards over the generators and was just barely holding onto those protecting Dani. To make matters worse she had drained herself too much to attack again.

The bear turned to them, its eyes glowing. "It looked like that right before it teleported!" Sam yelled.

"Its casting… some sort of spell." Illyana said, exhaustion in her voice.

"You're the sorceress, Illyana!" Amara pleaded. "Do something! Protect us!"

"I can't!" Illyana yelled as the bear transported them all somewhere else.

They materialized in what appeared to be a wide stretch of desert during the summertime. The bear had also transported Tom Corsi and Sharon Freelander to this wilderness with them, and they floated on either side of the bear. In front of the bear was the room Dani was undergoing surgery in, still protected by Illyana's wards.

"Whats going on?" Sam asked.

"Its simple Sam." Illyana answered. "The bear thought that he couldn't beat us on our turf, so he transported us to his."

/

_I know at the end I made Illyana seem very, very powerful, but keep in mind that she made a mistake with that attack. If the bear hadn't overestimated her and transported them to its territory it would have killed her and everyone else._

_Kitty is here because I have the X-Men still stuck in the Secret Wars, but I have to admit that her power is pretty useless against the bear, but then so are Roberto's and Rahne's. _


	8. Demon Bear Part 3

_Sam was the one who put the pieces together and figured out that he bear would attack again. Neither Kitty or Illyna knew that Dani had been afraid of the bear from the beginning. Kitty, as the most experienced and the only X-Man, developed the overall strategies. Once the fighting started Illyana, the only person with an idea of what magic can do, took over tactically._

_Disclaimer: Marvel just raised the rates for the sale of these characters._

_/_

For a full minute the bear and its foes stared at each other. "Illyana, can you do that lighning attack again?" Kitty asked.

"At the moment I can barely stand. It'll take some time before I've regained the strength to try it again." Illyana answered.

Then, without warning, the bear lashed out at the victims on either side of it. Its claws went straight through Officer Corsi and nurse Freelander, but did not pierce their bodies. Instead their forms began to change, until they were gross mockeries of Native American warriors, who charged at the New Mutants.

"No!" Sam screamed as he blasted between them, striking the bear in the stomach. The creature doubled over, allowing its shadow to spread over the land.

Illyana used the little power she had regained to immobilize the bear's pawns with her mystic chains, but as soon as the bear recovered from Sam's assault it took another swipe at the shield protecting Dani,this time managing to break through it. The affect on Illyana caused her to lose the chains on the bear's demons, freeing them to attack the young heroes.

"The bear's to strong!" Illyana yelled at Kitty as she reinforced Dani's protection. "If I cast any spells against its demons it'll smash through my wards and kill Dani!"

"Right." Kitty said, phasing partially into the ground to avoid a bolt of black lightning. "We'll cover you and take them out, then we'll launch an all out assault on the bear."

Most of the New Mutants held back; after all, the demons attacking them were nothing more than innocent victims. Amara, however, fired lethal lava blasts at them. Roberto yelled at her to stop. "We can't hurt civilians!"

"Civilians or not, Roberto, they can still kill us." Amara answered. "We need to respond with whatever force is necessary."

"If it comes to that we'll make the choice, but remember that officer Corsi and nurse Freelander have noooone!" One of the bear's demons made a rope appear out of nowhere and lassoed it around Roberto as he spoke. The demon twirled Roberto through the air and threw him into one of the dark patches left by the bears shadow. No one noticed yet, but everywhere the bear's shadow touched light would not return to. In addition the bear's power, and likewise that of its enchanted servants, increased with the area of its shadow. With its greater power the bear was able to swat Sam awy as if he was a fly when he attemted to ram it in the stomach again.

Before Roberto could make it back to an area that still had sunlight he was grabbed from behind. The demon began to drain his solar energy, then his lifeforce. Roberto was saved when Rahne, in wolf form, leapt at the demon, which dropped Roberto and rolled away. It faced Rahne, drew a bow and arrow seemingly from the air, and then retreated as its weapons exploded in its hands, coutersy of a small fireball from Amara.

Unfortunately for Amara, however, she had gotten to close to the bear, which decided that its minions were not defeating the New Mutants quickly enough. To better the odds, it thrust its claws through Amara, and she began to also turn into a demon.

Illyana then decided that she had stood on the sidelines long enough. She could not help Corsi and Freelander because the bear changed them while they floated in the air, but Amara was still on the ground. She summoned her soulsword, hoping that that wouldn't weaken her wards, and rushed towards Amara. Illyana swung the soulsword through the bear's hand before it pulled away, cutting it completely off. The creature roared loud enough to shake the ground, and its limb began to regrow.

It was only as it drew extra power to heal itself that Illyana sensed the bear gaining power from the land in its shadow. She looked about her, and saw that the majority of the visible terrain was already in shadow, and knew that time was running out if they were to stop the bear at all. She decided to just attack the bear relentlessly with her soulsword until it died, but Amara came first. Illyana thrust her blade through Amara's chest. The demon that Amara was wimpered, its features starting to become more human, then collapsed to the ground.

"**Amara!**" Sam, who had a not so secret crush on Amara, screamed, blasting towards Illyana. "**You killed her!**" He grabbed Illyana in mid-flight and dragged her against the hard, rocky terrain. "Rahne had you pegged from the start witch! Lord forgive me for not listening to her! The evil side of you take over? You figure it was time to join up with your own kind?"

Sam's power protects whomever he's holding, but he let Illyana go. The momentum of his flight kept her bouncing off rocks at near a hundred miles per hour, until she finally stopped several hundred yards away.

"_Guthrie!_" came an unexpected voice from behind Sam. "What in Jupiter's name have you done, you idiot?!"

Sam turned around in surprise. "Amara? But I saw Illyana _stab_ you."

"She was _saving_ me you buffon! The bear was enslaving me like the others! Her sword drove out its influence!" Sam began to cower, both from Amara's anger and from a sense of shame. "You'd have seen if you looked and _thought_ before acting, but instead you did the bear's work for it!"

Meanwhile Kitty was helping Illyana get up. The left half of Illyana's jacket and shirt had been completely torn off, revealing a shining silver armor. "That's quick thinking." Kitty commented, before noticing how dumbfounded Illyana was by the appearance of the armor.

"It saved my life," Illyana said, "but I didn't create it, and I don't have a clue where it came from."

The New Mutants approached Kitty and Illyana, neither of whom mentioned the fact that Illyana didn't create the armor to them. Sam started to apologize, but Illyana cut him off, thinking that it was the time for action.

"I think that I can kill the bear with my soulsword," she said, facing Kitty, "but I'd have to hit it somewhere like the head or the heart; otherwise it'll just heal itself."

Kitty nodded and turned to Roberto. "Did my brother ever teach you his 'fastball special?'" Roberto shook his head. "Well, he picks up Wolverine and throws him head first at the bad guys. Do you think you could throw Illyana between the bear's eyes?" This time Roberto answered yes.

"Good." Kitty said. "We'll have to distract it too, so it doesn't just swipe her away. Sam, that'll be your job. Fly circles around it to keep it disoriented. And Amara, keep the demons away from us while we're doing this."

The New Mutants accepted their orders without question. Amara fired lava blasts at the bear's demons to keep them at bay and Sam blasted towards the bear, flyning around its head and avoiding the swipes of its arms. When Kitty judged the bear sufficiently annoyed by Sam's maneuvers she yelled at Roberto to throw Illyana. Roberto complied, hurling the sorceress right above the beast's eyes. Illyana held hew soulsword out in front of her so it would he the first thing to strike the bear. The blade pierced the bear's skull, and it did not even have a chance to scream out as it began to dissipate.

The next thing Illyana, Kitty, and the New Mutants knew was that they were lying on the floor, back in the hospital and right outside the surgery. They all thought the crisis over, but then Rahne screamed, putting them all back on guard. It was not the bear that Rahne had noticed, but a lasting effect of its influence. Lying next to them were the unconscious forms of Tom Corsi and Sharon Freelander, no longer demons, yet somehow still transformed to look like Native Americans.

"Unfortunately that's how they'll remain." a previously unnoticed Native American man said. He stood next to a Native American woman. "Any spell the bear cast is gone, but this is a reminder that although the bear is gone, the evil that created it remains."

The entire grouped was shocked that these newcomers knew about the bear. "How do you…" Sam began.

"We were the bear, Sam, until you freed us." He and the woman walked towards the door of the surgery when one of the doctors came out, demanding to know what the cause of all the ruckus outside was.

"I'm William Lonestar," the man said. "And this is my wife, Peg. Our daughter is your patient and we want to know how she is."

Dani's classmates were astounded enough at the revelation that the bear was actually Dani's parents, but were still about to hear another shock. "She'll live," the doctor said, "but she'll be completely paralyzed."

The entire group gasped collectively, first at the terrible news and then in reaction to a voice they were beginning to fear that they'd never hear again. 'Don't worry,' Professor Xavier said in their heads, 'I can see from your minds what has transpired and am already taking action to rectify the situation. I also have brought all of the X-Men home with me, safe and sound.'

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As the Morlock with the power to heal others finished accelerating Dani's healing process her parents could not wait to see her anymore. They came in, much to DanI's surprise and joy. "Oh Danielle," her mother said as the three hugged, "its so great to finally see you again." They all began to cry from joy.

Her father was perhaps slightly more serious than his wife. "Could you ever forgive us for doing this to you?" he asked of Dani.

"Of course, dad. It wasn't you fault. But whose fault was it really?"

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That was a question the Lonestrars refused to answer, even to Charles Xavier.

/

_I don't think Marvel ever explained where the bear or Magik's armor came from. I will in several chapters. I'm also __**not**__ going to mention the change in how the soulsword looked._

_Next: Hybrid _


	9. Hybrid

_Dani's family gave her two names, Danielle and Moonstar. The family name was Lonestar. I don't know why she was called Danielle Moonstar as if that was her last name. _

_It seems like all super strong heroes have excellent aim, whether they are from Marvel or DC, don't ask me why._

_Professor Xavier seems to think that it's time his students got a break, but I just finished some difficult midyear exams and am feeling a little evil._

_This is a rewriting of Rom annual 3. It may be a good idea to look up Rom on wikipedia._

/

Charles Xavier couldn't have been more proud of his students. They had managed as well as he could have hoped for with himself and the X-Men gone, even while facing threats that could have given the X-Men a run for their money.

But the fact remained that they were all still children, and should not have had to fight those battles. Xavier did not want them be soldiers; not yet, anyway. So he arranged a field trip. Illyana, Kitty, and most of the New Mutants were on there way to Kentucky to visit Sam's family. Dani was not able to go because she was still recovering from the injuries she sustained battling the demon bear.

Un fortunately, not far outside Sam's hometown of Cumberland, there was a roadblock obstructing their way. A ranger approached their vehicle and told them to turn back because of a forest fire.

Sam was horrified. His entire family, all the people he used to work with in the mines, were in danger. "We've got to do something!"

Xavier agreed. "From the minds of those battling the fire I can see where it is." He looked at Illyana. "Can you make it rain enough to stop the fire?"

"No." Illyana answered. "I can make it rain a little, but the spells that cause heavy rains require there to be a lot of water already in the air, and it's a dry day." (_I'm getting this from the first issue of Alpha Flight._)

"Very well," Xavier said. "Sam, you fly on ahead and clear the trees between Cumberland and the fire. That should create a firebreak that will keep the blaze from spreading to the town." Immediately Sam leapt from the car and blasted towards the fire.

Xavier then had a job for Amara. "Sometimes firefighters use explosions to drain the oxygen from an area and deprive fires of fuel. There are few things as explosive as a volcano." He telepathically showed Amara where the fire was. She used her powers to cause a volcanic eruption in the fire breaker Sam was making. As Xavier predicted the explosion ate all the oxygen in the immediate area, snuffing the fire. (_I have no idea if that would really work or what that would do to people's ability to breathe, but this was what was done in the comic_.)

Later, after the roadblock was removed, they continued driving towards Cumberland. As they drove they saw the devastation the fire wrought. Acres upon acres of forest were burnt down. There was one building, right outside of the town, that was surrounded by scorched earth. The building, however, seemed to be in perfect condition. "That's strange." Sam said. "The town church looks untouched." All of the passengers looked at the church, amazed that it escaped damage, except for Illyana. She sensed something sinister in the building.

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The entire Guthrie family was waiting outside of there house to greet the students of Xavier when they arrived. After the introductions, Mrs. Guthrie invited them into her house for dinner.

While dinner was being served Amara asked "I'm surprised that you're all so calm. Your town was nearly burnt to the ground."

"We're a mining town." Mrs. Guthrie answered. "We've learned to live with disasters."

The next oldest Guthrie child after Sam, Josh, then said that it was a miracle that stopped the fire. "Yeah," Roberto whispered to Sam, "a miracle called the New Mutants." Sam elbowed him and whispered to him to shut up.

"The lord gives, the lord takes away." Mrs. Guthrie said.

"Huh?" Sam asked. "What was taken away?"

"Reverend Joad just died. He got sick suddenly. The funeral will be tomorrow morning."

"Reverend Joad? But he wasn't much older than forty!"

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That night a figure flew towards the church. The spacenight Rom landed just outside the building, only to be immediately frozen in place.

"Did you really think that you could sneak up on me?" came a voice from inside the church. A young man in minister's robes stepped out. The neutralizer that Rom had been holding flew out of his grasp, to land in the hands of the young man.

"An interesting weapon, this. It does not kill, but from where it banishes, there is no return." The minister pointed the gun at Rom and fired. The spaceknight disappeared, leaving only smoke behind.

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In the morning, before Reverend Joad's funeral, Sam was out hunting squirrels with Josh. "I used to do this all the time with dad before he died." Sam said, looking sad.

Josh was just as sad. "I never really knew dad, but Reverend Joad was always like a father to me."

"I felt the same way after dad died." Sam admitted. "So who's this guy they've got to replace him?"

"Reverend Joad found him unconscious in the river during a baptism right after he started to get sick, and took him in. It turned out that the guy was a genius and a very spiritual man. He knows more about the bible than I think Reverand Joad did."

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Xavier's students went with the whole town to the funeral, where the new minister was giving a moving

eulogy for the man who took him in, causing most people who knew the old reverend to cry. Kitty thought that he looked familiar, and Illyana sensed great power, and _evil_ in him. "Can you read his mind?" she asked Xavier.

He tired, but couldn't. "He seems to have mental shielding, somewhat similar to yours."

"Try again." Illyana said. This time Xavier was able to read the minister's mind. He wondered what Illyana had done to allow him to do so, but was more horrified by what he found in the minister's mind.

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Xavier spoke to his students in private about what he had learned. "The new reverend is actually a half human creature called Hybrid. He knows who we are and is determined to control our powers and give them to a new race of demons." He left out the part that Hybrid wanted to father this new race with the girls among their group(_I was going to leave that out too, but I think that that explanation makes things make more sense_).

"But the X-Men killed Hybrid with the help of Rom long ago!" Kitty exclaimed.

"Lets hope we can do that again," Illyana said, "because from what I sensed from him, his powers are magic based and he may be more powerful than I am."

"He won't let us leave." Xavier said, feeling depressed about asking them to fight yet again. "We have no choice but to try to stop him."

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They made their way back to the church, only to find that it was gone, seemingly swallowed by the earth. Illyana and Xavier tried to sense where Hybrid had gone to, and found him in the mines under the town.

They entered the mines, Sam remembering all the people he knew who died in cave-ins and his own near death experience the last time they were there. Deep in the mines they found the church.

Just as the church came into view (through light Amara provided in the dark caves) the mines began to shake. The cave ceiling behind them collapsed, causing their exit to be blocked.

Out of the church came hybrid. Sam blasted at him without a second thought, but his power cut out in mid-flight. Amara tried to throw a lava blast at Hybrid, but her powers also cut out.

Illyana noticed how Hybrid was taking control of their mutant powers and wondered if they could beat him if he could take control of her magics as well. Somehow able to sense her thoughts through her psychic shielding Hybrid mocked "You could ask nicely, or maybe even woo me with a kiss. We could make a great team, you know, _evil _to _evil_."

"Not interested." Illyana said, revolted.

"Well, then you'll have to die." Hybrid used his control over Sam's powers to force him to blast at Illyana, who sidestepped as Sam crashed into the rock wall behind her.

At that moment Kitty, who had phased into the ground when Hybrid first came out, phased out of the ground behind Hybrid and grabbed him from behind, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck. "Get him now!" she yelled.

Illyana complied, summoning her soulsword. Before she could move towards Hybrid however, he unleashed Xavier's powers on her and Kitty. Both girls screamed in pain from the mindblasts and Kitty was forced to let go of Hybrid. Illyana swung her sword through Xavier, temporarily freeing him from Hybrid's control and ending the mental assault.

Hybrid, however, had a final trick up his sleeve. He took out Rom's neutralizer and shot Illyana with it. She disappeared, seemingly vaporized, and ending the last resistance that Hybrid faced.

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Illyana had no idea where she was, or even if she was still alive. Her surroundings reminded her of Limbo, but were also distinct. None of the laws of physics seemed to work wherever she was.

She explored her surroundings and found what she thought to be a robot being attacked by numerous demons. She fired magical blasts to disperse the creatures then summoned eldritch flames to destroy them.

"Thank you," the armored being said. Relief was evident in his voice, which told Illyana that he was not a robot.

"What were those things?" she asked. "And where are we?"

"They were dire wraiths, a race of creatures that practice evil magics and have been trying to invade the Earth for some decades now. I used my neutralizer to banish the wraiths to Limbo, except now Hybrid has banished me here."

Illyana looked at Rom skeptically. "I spent seven years in Limbo, and _this_ is not Limbo."

"Limbo is more of a concept than an actual place, child. This Limbo is a timeless stasis field where those trapped inside cannot affect reality."

"The Limbo I know could affect reality," Illyana said. "but I don't plan on being trapped here."

"You don't seem to understand." Rom said. "Escape from here is impossible."

"Even for an one-dimensional teleported?"

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Illyana and Rom teleported back to the church, where Hybrid was holding Xavier and his students. Rom walked straight into the church to face Hybrid, who was surprised and not too happy to see him.

"How did you escape?" Hybrid demanded.

"I've been a spaceknight for two hundred years. Naturally I've picked up a few tricks."

"Well, I won't make that mistake again." Hybrid formed a ring of fire around Rom.

While concentrating on Rom, however, Hybrid failed to notice Illyana sneaking up behind him, until her soulsword was in his back. The incredible pain the weapon caused made him lose his hold over Xavier, Kitty, and the New Mutants, drop the flames encircling Rom, and drop the neutralizer.

Before Hybrid could reassert control Xavier caught him with a mindblast, giving Rom the opportunity to grab his neutralizer and use it to banish Hybrid to the Limbo he and Illyana had just come.

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"What are we going to tell everyone in town?" Sam asked. "We can't tell them the truth." All eyes were on the Professor.

"True." Xavier replied. "Perhaps we should let them investigate. They'll never find out about Hybrid, or us."

"Ah hate this." Sam moaned. "Lying to my friends and family." He sighed. "Ah guess, being different means you can't go home again."

Xavier didn't reply to that, but Illyana did. "No, you can't."

/

_Next Time: Warlock_


	10. Warlock

_Hybrid knew she could teleport, but not across dimensions, or he just assumed that it was impossible to get out of Rom's Limbo_

/

The students at Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters were finally getting back into a normal routine of doing schoolwork. At least the girls were. The boys, never to be bothered with studying (_at least at my school_) were on their way back from a baseball game.

In the room they shared Illyana and Kitty were preparing for an exam, which made Illyana somewhat suspicious. "Kitty, I know that your spot on the X-Men is contingent on your keeping good grades, but you know this stuff cold. So why are you here and not with the X-Men wherever they've gone to?"

Kitty closed her textbook. "The prof' asked me to try to talk you into joining the New Mutants."

"Again?" Illyana moaned. "How many times do I have to tell him 'no?'"

Kitty shrugged. "He thinks it would be good for you, and I do see where he's coming from. The X-Men are almost always in danger. If something were to happen to me you wouldn't have any friends at all. If you hung out with the X-babies (_Kitty's favorite name for the New Mutants_) more maybe you'd become friends."

"Yeah right." Illyana scoffed. "They're all way too scared of me to give me a chance. Rahne is always going to hate my guts no matter what I do, Roberto pisses himself every time he looks at me, Amara compared me to Selene _before_ finding out I was a sorceress, and Sam tried to _kill_ me. I'm sure we'll make the _best_ of friends."

"It's the prof's idea, not mine." Kitty said. "By the way, when are you going to tell Peter about your powers."

"I know, but I'm scared. Piotr's already suspicious of me and doesn't fully trust me. What if he reacts the same way the New Mutants did?"

"You'd better tell him soon, before one of the X-babies slips up and blurts it out to him first."

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Sam and Roberto were almost back from Yankee Stadium when they noticed a shooting star overhead. As they watched it grew bigger, and bigger, until they finally realized that it was heading right at them. The meteor flew about forty feet over them and crashed several hundred yards behind.

They walked over to them small crater it had formed and saw the round object lying in the center. Roberto entered the crater and used his strength to lift it up. He carried it into the mansion and to the basement lab. As they went towards their wing of the mansion Roberto joked to Sam about the professor having "a new toy to play with."

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In the lab the meteor did not sit still. It sprouted a tentacle, then another, then a head, and finally it looked semi-humanoid.

'Processing.' it thought. 'Condition: energy levels, dangerously low. Ample supplies of energy detected in immediate environment.'

It got up and left the lab, entering the X-Men's wing of the mansion.

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Kitty and Illyana's conversation was interrupted by a squeal from Lockheed, Kitty's pet dragon. "What's the matter, Lock?" Kitty asked. "You smell something?"

The dragon flew out of the room and into the hall, where it found the creature that Roberto had brought to the lab. The creature analyzed Lockheed, and judged that he was a good energy source. It reached for Lockheed, who avoided its grasp.

Illyana and Kitty came out of their room to see what had upset Lockheed, and were quite surprised to find what they thought was a demon trying to grab the small dragon. Illyana summoned her soulsword and swung it through the creature, but it was not magical and was unaffected.

The creature responded by hitting Illyana and knocking her into the wall, which cracked from the impact. She was saved from injury when the armor that had first appeared during the fight against the demon bear manifested itself upon impact, covering her torso, one of her arms, and one of her legs.

The creature grabbed at Illyana, and she avoided it. It did manage to graze the hand which was unarmored, which suddenly became overlaid with circuitry. Kitty and Illyana watched in horror as the circuitry began to spread up Illyana arm.

Illyana then yelled at Kitty. "get out of here and warn the others! Tell them not to touch this thing!" She summoned a light disk and disappeared into it, but not before Lockheed flew into it after her.

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A loud crash brought the New Mutants out of their rooms, where they saw Kitty running away from the creature. Amara and Roberto transformed, Amara firing lava blasts at it.

When the lava blasts proved ineffective Roberto grabbed one of the creature's tentacles. "Careful!" Kitty yelled. "Its touch is deadly."

"So is mine." Roberto replied, ripping the tentacle in two. The creature screamed and threw Roberto across the hall. Like Illyana, Roberto hit the wall, leaving it cracked.

As the creature advanced on Roberto, Dani, still in a wheelchair from the injuries she suffered against the demon bear, used her power to create an image of what the creature feared most. What appeared was what seemed to be an even larger image of the creature. It panicked and ran away.

"What the heck _was_ that?" Sam asked Kitty.

"I don't know. Lockheed smelled it and attacked it. Illyana drove it off of him but it turned her hand into a robotic thing. She teleported away and it chased me here."

"Well," Dani said, "it has something that it fears, so it must be sentient." (_I have no idea why. Animals feel fear, but that's what they said in the comics._) "Maybe we can communicate with it. Get Doug Ramsey over here and we'll use Rahne's sense of smell to track it."

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They found the creature back in the lab. It had been low on energy before arriving and Roberto's attack had hurt it. It was lying on the floor, and had lost its humanoid shape. Kitty and the New Mutants, minus Sam, watched it from outside the door (_which had a window on it_) as it tried and failed to put itself together again. The creature did not look for the creature then, but instead looked quite pathetic. They also noticed for the first time that it was made of circuitry.

Sam arrived with Doug Ramsey, who was upset and confused. One of his friends came into his home, woke him up, told him that he was a mutant with the ability to translate and understand any language, and then _flew_ him over to the mansion, all the while talking about how they needed him to communicate with something that Sam had no idea what it was.

Doug looked into the lab, and was shocked to see the creature inside. "You really weren't kidding." He opened the door and went inside. "Hello," he said to the creature. "My name's Doug. What's yours?"

The creature tried to pull itself together to answer, but still couldn't. Instead it flashed lights in a pattern, first very bright but gradually growing dimmer. Somehow Doug _knew_ that the creature was telling him that it was low on energy and that it was on the brink of death. He walked over to an electrical outlet and said "You'll find all the power you need in here."

The creature reached into the outlet, and suddenly it glowed with the surge in power. It then reformed into its humanoid shape and spoke for the first time. "Self thanks…self-friend?"

"Sure," Doug answered, 'why can't we be friends?" He then beckoned the New Mutants to come in. "Its okay. He just needed some food. He's actually only a baby."

"And I suppose he told you that when he was flashing lights?" Kitty asked.

"As a matter of fact he did."

/

_I am not happy with how this chapter went, but I wanted to get it done quickly because I am __**really**__ anxious to get the next one up. And what is it with ff that keeps on underlining or italisizing or just messing up the documents after I upload them? It underlined the whole document! Oh, and I'm going to tell the story of what Illyana was up to during this time in a later chapter, just like they did in the comics._


	11. An Original Chapter

_This chapter is a completely original story. It is not based on any comic._

/

Professor Xavier and Wolverine were at the danger room controls, setting up a hand to hand combat match between Illyana and Kitty. Since learning about Illyana's powers Xavier had become quite interested in her abilities. He'd arranged many danger room sessions that always ended quickly because Illyana would teleport away whatever he set against her. Eventually Xavier, wanting to know more about her spells, handicapped Illyana during the sessions by not allowing her to use her mutant powers. Illyana refused to use her sorcery and in protest did not defend herself in the danger room anymore. No about of lectures or reprimands would convince her otherwise, or even to give an explanation for her behavior. Finally, Xavier had accepted that she would not use magic, but there was still one area in which he wanted to know what Illyana could do, fighting. So she and Kitty were walking into the danger room for a spar.

"I still think this is a bad idea." Wolverine said. "Kitty could get hurt."

Xavier looked at him skeptically. "_You_ were the one who taught her how to fight."

"I taught her how to take down a bunch of goons, but you don't survive in Belasco's hell for seven years by not learning how to defend yourself, hard."

"You're not here for your opinions, Logan." Wolverine knew exactly why he was there. To get an idea of what Illyana could do she had to go all out. To get Illyana to go all out Kitty had to not hold back, and the only way to ensure that Kitty would not hold back was to have the man who taught her to fight watching her; she wouldn't want to disappoint him.

It was Kitty, Logan thought, that needed help more than Illyana. After all, she _was_ heartbroken over Peter's breaking up with her. Why did Xavier wait till _now_ to start worrying about Illyana?

Logan was brought out of his thoughts by the start of the match. Just as he predicted, Kitty was no match for her friend. Illyana's reflexes were astounding, almost animal like, and her technique was vicious. "Looks like she's using a variation of the Mossad form I taught Kitty." Logan said, wondering who would have taught her that. "Chuck, we've seen enough. Kitty can't win. If Illyana slips and lets Kitty get a hit in then things may get ugly."

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After their fight ended, Kitty and Illyana made their way to the kitchen, where the New Mutants were already eating breakfast. The school's junior team had been in the midst of a spirited conversation, but the room grew suddenly silent when Illyana walked in. She wasn't phased however, as this had been how every morning had gone since she told them about her powers.

Dani tried to get another conversation started. "So, you guys just come from the danger room?" Both Illyana and Kitty were still sweaty from the fight, although Illyana wasn't sure if she had sweated more while fighting or when Wolverine came up to her and demanded to know where she learned her fighting style. Avoiding his questions had proven very difficult.

The conversation moved back to what it had been before Kitty and Illyana came in, Rahne and Roberto's recent troubles controlling their emotions. The professor, still unsure of the cause, was sending them to their parents, Roberto to his mother in South America, and Rahne to her adopted mother Moira Mctaggert in Scotland.

Illyana tried to tell a joke about how she would just teleport them there herself but she couldn't be sure when they'd arrive. Both Rahne and Roberto looked at her in disgust and fear at the prospect of being teleported by her. Inwardly, Illyana chided herself. She should have known better than to try to fit in, especially with Rahne and Roberto as they were.

"What, are you anxious to get rid of us?" Roberto asked threateningly.

Illyana was now in a bind and trying to get out of the conversation. "No, I just… wanted to save you the traveling expenses and the time lost to any flight delays."

"I'd rather fly." Roberto scoffed. "The flight attendants are better on planes." Illyana was hurt, but did not respond. Roberto was just showing how his condition was affecting him. He didn't take the hint, however, and continued. "Oh, did I hurt the feelings of the big, scary sorceress?" he teased. "Maybe we don't have to be scared of you at all. You're so pathetic."

"Shut up." Illyana hissed. Roberto may not have been in full control of his actions, but he was still pissing her off.

"Or what?" He got up from his seat, transformed, and walked over to her. Illyana just raised an open hand at Roberto, who cowered in fear.

"You're the pathetic one." she said, almost to herself. She turned back to her meal, only to have Roberto's fist smash into the back of her head.

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Rahne came into Dani's room. "I just went down to the infirmary, and…Illyana's…really hurt."

"That surprises you?" Dani asked.

"Yes, actually." Rahne admitted. "I guess I never really thought of her as…_human_."

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Xavier had watched as Sharon Freelander had bandaged up the unconscious Illyana. He had given her and Tom Corsi jobs at the school after the demon bear transformed them into Native Americans.

Roberto's punch had cracked Illyna's skull and may have resulted in some brain damage. Xavier had confronted Roberto, who was appalled at his own actions and genuinely did not mean to do it. Both he and Rahne seemed to be trying harder to control themselves now.

However, this incident meant that Roberto and Rahne's situation was worse than he had originally thought. He would have to keep them close so he could monitor them at all times and help them as best he could.

Xavier went to his library to look through his medical books to find something that would help him diagnose their conditions. Several hours later Illyana teleported in, looking completely healthy.

"Its good to see that you're awake. I assume you used a healing spell?"

"Yes."

"Does that heal concussions."

"It should." Illyana answered, then took a deep breath. "Look, professor. I came here to tell you that I'm leaving."

That was the last thing Xavier expected her to say. "Why?"

"Because I don't belong here. I've felt it since I first came and can't deny it anymore."

"You _know_ Roberto wasn't in his right mind, don't you?"

"Yes, but that's still the second time that I've almost been killed by one of _your_ New Mutants." In the word _your _was an accusation directed at Xavier. "I don't fit in with those my own age, or even with my brother. I need to find a place where I _do_ belong."

"If you leave," Xavier said, "then I can't help you, or protect you."

"Help and protect me?" Illyana laughed. "You've _ignored_ me for months. It was only after you knew that I had powers that you began to give a damn about me." (_Was I the only one who noticed that that's what Xavier did in the comics?_) "Am I nothing but a tool to you and your New Mutants?"

Illyana's words stung Xavier, because she was right that he ignored her. First he had been mourning the apparent deaths of the X-Men and then he had been settling in the New Mutants, but that was no excuse.

"And as for protecting me," she continued, "you had your chance to do that when I was still a little kid, and _you failed._ Now I am beyond your protection, or anyone else's."

Xavier sighed. He couldn't win this argument. "So where will you go?"

"I don't know yet."

"You're not going back to Limbo, are you?"

"No, definitely not." That, at least, relieved Xavier.

"Will you go to your parents?"

"No?"

"Your brother, then?" Peter, who had fallen in love with an alien, had been shattered by her death. He broke up with Kitty, then felt too guilty to be around the X-Men anymore. He was currently wandering around New York, selling paintings. Illyana wondered if Xavier was implying that, like her brother, she was running away from her problems instead of facing them.

"No." she answered.

"Are you going to at least tell Kitty and Peter that you're leaving?"

"No. I'm afraid that one of them would convince me to stay." With that she teleported away.

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On her own now, Illyana considered her options. She did not want to go anywhere that the X-Men could find her.

There were a few loose ends that she had never tied up, but she was too afraid to hunt down Belasco. There were other questions, she realized, that she wanted answered. And these were questions of a mystical nature.

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Illyana teleported to a farm in Colorado. She knocked on the front door, which was opened by Dani's father. "Can I talk to you and your wife?" she asked.

Once inside Illyana went right to the point. "I want to know about the force behind the bear and what it has to do with Dani."

William Lonestar answered. "We don't even know ourselves. Whatever it was captured us, transformed us, and tortured us until we agreed to kill Dani."

"If it had that kind of power why couldn't it have attacked Dani directly?" Illyana asked. "There are forces that can only interfere in our world in such ways, but for all of them there are opposing forces on the light side. One of them should have given Dani protection." Illyana began to realize something. Protection _had_ been given, just not to Dani.

When Dani's parents did not answer she took out the medallion she always carried with her. "What do you know about this?"

The Lonestars looked at it in shock. "We were instructed to retrieve something like that when we had killed Dani." Peg said.

Illyana put the medallion away. "I don't think you were ever told your real target. I think that you were meant to kill _me_."(_My explanation for where the bear came from and why Illyana's armor first appeared against the bear_) It had been Belasco's Elder Gods that had transformed the Lonestars, in an attempt to kill Illyana and get back their best chance to be freed. Illyana wondered when the barrier between dimensions was weak enough to allow the Elder Gods to manipulate people that much. It must have happened when Belasco almost succeeded in using her medallion to free them. He had begun the spell, but it had been interrupted by Ka-Zar of the Savage Land. The Elder Gods were furious at Belasco and banished him to Limbo. They apparently also knew that one day Illyana would defeat Belasco and took what steps they could in the brief time the barrier was weak to stop her.

Illyana was not finished just yet, however. "Did you do anything else as the bear besides try to kill Dani?"

"Yes. There were these cults of sorcerers in England. We helped one battle the other and almost wiped it out."

Two groups of sorcerers. One serving the Elder Gods, the other opposing them. It looked like Illyana might have found a place to belong after all.

/

_This was going to be a two-parter,_ _but that would have made this chapter twice a long as any other, so I'm splitting it into three instead._


	12. A Place to Belong?

_Sorry this took longer than any of my previous updates, but I've been kind of busy and this has proven to be the hardest chapter to write._

_Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel characters, but I do claim any new characters that appear in this chapter._

_/_

Illyana had forgotten about the time difference between America and Britain, and teleported to the location the Lonestars had given her in the middle of the night. To a normal observer, the building in front of her would have merely been an ancient and fairly small mansion, much smaller than Xavier's, but the powerful spells protecting told Illyana that it was a fortress.

Illyana was not sure how she would be welcomed; at that time of night those she was seeking would probably believe her hostile. It would be best for her to find a place such as a motel to stay for the night and return in the morning.

She never got the chance. Within seconds of her arrival a man burst through the front doors, firing magical blasts at her.

"Hey!" she yelled, backing away so the blasts hit the ground in front of her. "I haven't even done anything yet!"

"And you won't get the chance!" her assailant yelled back, firing another blast.

Illyana raised her right hand and channeled her power into it, so that she could swat the attack away as it reached her. It was surprisingly easy. Illyana knew that no two sorcerers were equal in power but the only two she had ever met in the past were Belasco and the alternate Storm. She expected any sorcerer she met to be in the same league as them.

Illyana extended the same arm at her attacker. A shock traveled through the air, striking him head on. He was able to block most of the spell, but was pushed back several feet. She heard him take a deep breath and then begin to recite an incantation.

Before his spell was cast a wall of silver fire sprang up between the combatants. "Enough" a woman's voice said, not loudly but still strongly. The woman came down the front steps of the mansion and walked through the fire. She was middle-aged, with red hair that had several gray streaks running through it (kind of like Rogue), but the most striking of her features were her eyes. One was missing completely, but the other was so piercing that Illyana thought that it alone could see into the depths of her soul. Illyana also sensed that she was far more powerful than the person she had been fighting.

The woman walked around Illyana several times, silently looking her over. She stopped right in front of Illyana, her one eye staring right into the younger woman's. "I believe I know who you are, girl, but I will require some proof." Illyana removed from inside her shirt the Beatrix Medallion. The one eyed woman stared at it and the three bloodstones it contained.

From behind the flames the man who attacked Illyana had to take in a deep breath. "The….darkchylde."

"Hush, Richard." the woman commanded. "I must apologize for my son's behavior. He has known nothing but battle his whole life and tends to be on edge." She turned around and the flames disappeared. "Come inside." Illyana followed her back to the door.

The man approached the woman. "Do you think this is a good idea, mother? Lowering our defenses to let her in? What if it's a trap?"

"If she were against us then the Elder Gods would have already come to this world and destroyed us all."

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Illyana was seated at a large table, facing slightly less than a dozen sorcerers. They were mostly fairly old, except for Richard, the one who had attacked her. In the light Illyana saw that he was actually still a boy, somewhere between her age and Sam Guthrie's. He had red hair like his mother and freckles. He, like the rest the sorcerers, was looking at his mother as she began to speak.

"What is your real name, child?"

"Illyana."

"A Russian?" her eye opened slightly wider. "I always thought that you were Italian."

"Because Belasco was Italian?" Illyana asked.

"Well, yes, actually. The stories circulating among the mystic community tell of a child whom Belasco took to his Limbo, corrupted, and was eventually defeated and overthrown by. Nothing is actually known about you, though. And what is your last name?"

"Rasputin."

"Ah." the eye closed. "Are you a descendant of Gregory Rasputin?"

That question puzzled Illyana. "Who?"

The eye opened slightly. "A particularly dangerous and psychotic sorcerer from the early twentieth century. He was very much responsible for the fall of the Czar in Russia."

"I don't know. It's a pretty common name in Russia."

"Very well, Illyana. And how did you find out about us?"

"You remember that bear that had been attacking you. Well I, uh, killed it and found that was, um,"

"Wait." Richard interrupted. "That bear killed most of us, and you're saying that you were able to slaughter it?"

"Yes," his mother agreed, "that is an incredible feat for one so young. It would have proven difficult even for Belasco himself."

"Well, it was more of a matter of weaponry than power."

"What sort of weaponry?" Illyana raised her hand and summoned her soulsword. The light it generated was so intense that everyone had to look away, except for Richard's mother. She stared at it with her one eye wide open. "So it is true. You did forge a soulsword. How did you do it?"

Illyana looked sad as the sword dissipated. "That sword is my greatest failure. It's nothing more than a mockery of the spell I was unable to cast."

The eye gazed at Illyana more intently than ever, and the young sorceress was glad that her thoughts were shielded, even if the rest of her being wasn't. She had no desire to share or discuss anything that happened to her in Limbo, even if those here could understand it better than they could at Xavier's. "Very well. You may consider yourself welcome here, Illyana. I am Catherine." She began referring to the others at the table. "This is Scott, Peter, John, Jake, Lilian, Harold, Petunia, and of course my son Richard, who will show you to your room. The third room on the left upstairs." she told her son.

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As Richard led her to her new room Illyana noticed that he was somewhat uncomfortable. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"What? Oh, no. Its just…" Richard fumbled to find an excuse, "I uh, always thought that the Darkchylde had dark hair." he finished quickly.

Illyana chuckled and ran her fingers through her hair. "Sorry to disappoint." It seemed that Richard was not afraid of her, just uncomfortable being with a beautiful girl, but she had to be sure. "Do you trust me?"

"My mother does. That's good enough for me."

Illyana decided that the answer was fair enough. "So what is it you do here?"

"We used to interfere in the plans of this cult that worshipped the Elder Gods; there's been something of a war going on between us and them for generations. But then the bear came and decimated us. Now we don't have the numbers to keep up anymore and just hide here in our mansion, which we've put on every defensive spell we could think of. So if you came here for some action this isn't the place for you."

"If I have to fight I'll do it without hesitation, but I'd actually rather not. But you're not bothered by this cult anymore?"

"We're no longer really a threat to them so they don't bother with us, but just in case Harold spies on them a lot. He's one of the best at cloaking spells in the world." He then smiled at her. "Actually, the stories of you have scared them into keeping quiet for a while. And I'm sure the destruction of the bear will also give them pause. Thanks, by the way, for killing it."

"You're welcome." They reached the room Illyana was being given, and she turned to Richard. "All the fighting, the never-ending battles, it's tiring, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Just look at my mother. She's a good ten years younger than she looks."

Illyana shook her head. "I've got her beat in the being artificially aged by it."

"How old should you be?"

"Seven."

They said good night and Illyana entered her room. 'So far so good.' she thought. She felt like she belonged there far more than she had at Xavier's. The people here could sense, and understand, how her experiences in Limbo had changed here. She did not have to hide anything about who she was to fit in.

One problem with fitting in, however, was that her internal clock was on a different time zone, but Illyana usually cast a spell on herself for dreamless sleep anyway, so it would not be an issue.

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Illyana was woken up in the morning by a knock on the door. She stretched, rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and said, "come in."

Richard entered. "Its time for breakfast." he said.

"All right." Illyana pushed off the covers and stood up, only to find Richard staring at her with very peculiar expression. Illyana looked down, and only then remembered that she had slept in nothing but her underwear and the necklace with the Beatrix Medallion. She had wanted to travel without the burden of luggage and had not brought any more clothing with her than what she had worn when she arrived.

"I think I'll leave." Richard said finally, quickly shutting the door behind him.

Several minutes later Illyana came downstairs where everyone else were already in the middle of breakfast. She smiled at Richard as she passed him on the way to her seat. He blushed but smiled back at her. Illyana got the impression that he was imagining what she would have looked like if he walked in to find her naked. For some reason she did not feel the least bit embarrassed about the incident.

Catherine looked between the teens with a stern gaze and then addressed Illyana. "I hope you slept well."

"As well as I've ever slept, thank you." She looked around the table and noticed that a seat was still empty. "Where's Harold?"

"On reconnaissance." Catherine answered.

Towards the end of breakfast Catherine looked up at the front door. "Ah, Harold returns, with news."

Sure enough seconds later Harold burst through the doors, yelling "We're under attack!"

Catherine waved her hands and the table with the food disappeared. "Why now?" she asked Harold.

"They somehow found out that we have come into possession of the Beatrix Medallion. They want it for themselves."

Catherine turned to the rest of the sorcerers. "You all know what to do." They all scattered, heading to different rooms. Illyana followed Richard. They looked out of one of the front windows.

Catherine was on the front steps, facing at least forty sorcerers. "Leave." she commanded them.

One of them, apparently the leader, stepped forward. "Only if you give us what we're looking for. He motioned for several of his followers to move forwards. They did so, only for the mansions defensive spells to cause the ground beneath their feet to explode, killing them.

The remaining attackers began to recite enchantments to break the defensive spells, and those inside as well as Catherine recited enchantments to keep them up. After about twenty seconds the attackers' greater numbers won out, and the defensive enchantments fell.

The attackers charged the mansion, and the defenders began casting spells at them from the windows, managing to pick off four at first and force the others back on the defensive. They backed up, struggling to deflect the spells cast at them and fire their own back into the windows they were being attacked from.

Meanwhile the leader of the attacking group was dueling Catherine. They shot spells, deflected, ducked and pivoted in what was almost a reverse symmetry. For over a minute it seemed as if they were evenly matched, with Catherine moving surprisingly fast for her age, but eventually her opponent got a spell past her guard, knocking her to the ground. He extended his hand towards his fallen foe, ready to kill her.

But Illyana teleported between them, soulsword raised. She brought the weapon down, cutting off his arm above the elbow. He screamed in pain and backed away from her. The entire battle ceased as all eyes turned to Illyana. She took the Beatrix Medallion out of her shirt and waved it in front of the attacking force. "Is this what you want?"

"Get her!" the now one armed leader yelled, but she teleported away before he had even finished the word "her."

Illyana's voice came from behind them. "Looking for me?" The entire force turned around to face her, which was the greatest mistake they could have made, since they were unable to defend themselves from the renewed barrage of spells cast from the house.

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Later, while most of the defenders were cleaning up the mess the attack had made Catherine and Illyana were talking.

"Thank you, child." Catherine said, her one eye twinkling.

"Even though the group that you've fought for years has been defeated, it's never really over, is it?" Illyana asked.

"No, no it isn't." Catherine agreed. "there are always others willing to take up the cause of the Elder Gods, and Belasco is still out there."

"What will you do with the survivors we captured?"

"I've arranged for Stephen Strange to pick them up. He'll find a suitable place to banish them to."

"When he comes, please don't mention that I'm here or had anything to do with this." Illyana did not want to give Professor Xavier or the X-Men a chance to find her. That was one of the reasons she did not approach Doctor Strange in the first place.

Catherine looked puzzled, but agreed. "There is something else I wish to discuss. I have noticed the way you and my son look at each other. Do you know the story of the one who that medallion is named after?"

Illyana nodded. "Belasco made Beatrix his bride and attempted to make her the mother of a race of demons, but she died giving birth."

"Yes, and he would have succeeded had she survived."

Illyana began to realize where Catherine was going. Her face contorted in sadness and anger. "I'm so stupid to never think of that."

"No," Catherine said sadly, "just young."

Illyana took a deep sigh, then took out the Beatrix Medallion again. "Take it if you want it."

"No." Catherine replied. "It's your responsibility. And besides, as we've just seen, it attracts the wrong kind of attention."

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Illyana approached Richard, who was sweeping broken plaster. A general rule among sorcerers who practiced white magic was that magic should be used as little as possible.

"Do you always make a mess this big when you fight?" Richard joked.

"Usually."

He stopped working. "You were great out there."

"Maybe, but…." Illyana bit her lip. This was difficult because she did like him if she was honest with herself. "I'm going to have to leave."

"What!? Why?"

"When I left Limbo, I didn't realize just how much it had affected me. I'm beginning to realize now, however."

"And what have you realized?"

Illyana now took a deep breath. "I thought that I could belong here, and I could, but that's the problem. I fit in too well, …with you. And I can't…."

"Ever be in a relationship?" Richard finished. Illyana nodded.

"The evil Belasco placed in me… it's too dangerous."

Richard nodded, understanding, even though he wasn't happy with it. "Where are you going now?"

"I don't know." She teleported away, not able to say any more.

/

_I didn't intend originally to add a romantic interest here, but I needed a reason why Illyana would leave and the only other option was to kill everyone else in the chapter, and that seemed like a waste. _

_None of the new characters will appear again in this story, but I'm already planning a sequel and their place in it._

_Please, please tell me in the reviews what you thought of the semi-romantic dialogue and how Illyana and Richard's relationship developed. This is my first time writing anything close to having people fall in love and I want to know if it is like Anakin and Padme's relationship and how to improve in this area in the future. _


	13. With Great Power

_My bad. I never meant for my story to have any parallels whatsoever to the Star Wars prequels. I mentioned the Anakin/Padme relationship just as an example of what happens when romantic dialogue is really screwed up. I just wanted to be sure that it wasn't as bad as that, but I wasn't clear, so any mistaken assumptions are totally my fault; sorry._

_This chapter is taking a leaf from the Marvel Team Ups of the early 80's_

_Oy, did I have writers block on this chapter, even though I knew what I wanted to write long beforehand._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Marvel._

/

After changing into his uniform, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man (_that's how its spelled in the movies_), leapt onto the roof of the building next to him, to come face to face with a blond teenage girl in regular school clothes. "Hi," she said, "can we talk?"

Naturally, the wall crawler assumed that it was merely another fan girl asking for (he hoped) an autograph. He was in something of a hurry and so did not even think about how a fan girl got on the roof or would know that he was there. He merely said "Sorry" and swung away.

Spider-Man traveled at a tremendous speed, moving with a natural, yet fine tuned grace. In less than three minutes he had landed on the roof of his destination, nearly forty blocks away.

"You know, you're a hard guy to find. I've spent three days looking." Spider-Man was quite surprised to find the girl he met sitting against the chimney. "Then again, the first few times I saw you I didn't know it was _you_, because of the new black suite you're wearing." (_after the secret war Spider-Man wore that black suite that later became Venom._)

"How did you beat me here?" Spider-Man asked.

"Teleported." She looked at her watch. "Although I think I timeslipped again. I've been waiting for nearly ten minutes."

'A teleporter.' he thought. 'That changes things.' "All right. But we'll have to talk later. I'm somewhat busy at the moment." Any second now a man would be coming out of the building across the street, and Spider-Man had an urgent need to speak with _him._

Sure enough, right on schedule the man Spider-Man was waiting for came out, only to be pounced upon by the neighborhood Spider-Man, who was not in a very friendly mood.

"Hello, Jack." Spider-Man's voice was full of venom as he lifted his victim into the air. "Where is Stanley?"

Jack gave him a bemused look. "Who?"

Spiderman threw him into the wall, cracking it. "The man who's selling those drugs to kids at the six and eighth street schools!" (_I haven't a clue what any schools in Manhattan are called or where they are._) "Yesterday a boy _died_ from an overdose!"

In spite of Spider-Man'sshort temper on the subject, and the pain from impacting the wall, Jack remained smug. "And if I don't tell you," he teased, "what are you going to do to me? _Nothing!_ That's what. You won't even break any of my bones. I'll go to jail, but I'll be out soon, because it was _you_ who caught me. And if I tell, I'm going to jail anyways."

He then looked past Spider-Man. "On the other hand, maybe your lady friend could entice me to talk." Spider-Man turned his head to see the teleporter just behind him.

She walked up to Jack and crouched down so that their faces were level with each other. Spider-Man couldn't see her face, but her tone sent chills down his spine, and he was very glad that she was not glaring at him as she said "Tell us what we want to know."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Illyana teleported herself and Spider-Man to their quarry's location, just a dock where drugs were being unloaded off a ship.

"Do you always have to go through that place when you teleport?" Spider-Man asked.

"'Fraid so. But do you always have such problems interrogating people?"

"Sometimes. Criminals aren't exactly frightened of unpopular heroes. One time I stopped these guys from robbing a jewelry store, and _they_ called the cops on _me_."

"That's actually why I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh." Spider-Man seemed offended. "I'd almost rather you _were_ just a fan girl." he muttered.

"What was that?" Illyana asked, putting an innocent smile on her face.

"Nothing. Just a bad joke. I can be corny sometimes."

"I guess you're more popular than I thought."

"Never mind! Lets get to work."

"Okay. What does this Stanley look like?"

"He'll be wearing a suite. He's got sunglasses and a mustache."

She teleported away, and reappeared a minute later with a man who matched Spider-Man's description. "Is this who you're looking for?"

Under his mask Peter Parker smiled. "yup."

"There they are!" Six of Stanley's men ran out of the ship, alerted by abduction of their boss, and opened fire on Spider-Man, Illyana, and Stanley.

Spider-Man leapt out of the way, Illyana summoned a large stepping disk to shield herself and Stanley, who screamed "**Stop you idiots! You're gonna hit **_**me**_**!**" When they didn't stop, Spider-Man jumped into their midst and quickly punched and pummeled them into submission.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later, after Stanley, his men, and his contraband were safely in police custody, Spider-Man asked "So what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"My life is… difficult." Illyana answered. "And its only getting more so. At this point I don't know what to, where to go, or why to go on at all. I was hoping that you could tell me why _you_ go on, why you continue to be a hero, even though most of the public is against you, even though crooks call the cops on you, even though you're so ridiculed."

"Care to go into details about what's bothering you?" Illyana shook her head. "There are times when I, too, wonder why I go on, and if it would be better to just give the whole superhero thing up. Sometimes I really hate it. But I learned a lesson long ago, _with great power comes great responsibility _(_!!!_)_."_

"I know," Illyana said. "If that power is used the wrong way the results would be disastrous."

"That's true, but its not what I meant. What I'm saying is that those of us with power have the responsibility to _use_ that power. It is just as dangerous to let evil happen as to be evil yourself."

"But doesn't power corrupt?" Illyana asked.

"If used the wrong way, yes. But its just as selfish to keep your gifts," he paused when Illyana coughed at the word 'gifts,' "to yourself. They should be used for the benefit of mankind. Can you tell me that if you saw a mugging you wouldn't try to stop it?"

"No." Illyana answered. "I would do everything in my power to stop it."

"Then you're a lot nobler than I was at your age. Not long after I first got my powers I saw a mugging, but I did nothing to stop it. I didn't think it was my problem. A couple of months later, that same burglar murdered the closest thing I've ever had to a father. Hopefully you won't have to pay the same price for the lesson to sink in."

"I've already paid a heavy price." she said sadly.

"Hey," Spider-Man said, getting an idea. "You know, there's a great place for people like you. It's called Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

Illyana gave a small and sad chuckle. "I _was_ there. I've left."

"Why? Xavier's great, as are his students; I've met a few of them, Cannonball, Karma."

"Karma's dead." (_at this time that's what everyone thought_) "And Professor Xavier and his students were part of the problem there."

"It sounds to me like you're running away from your problems." 'There.' Illyana thought. 'Xavier had hinted at that. Is it true?'

"Thank you." she said. "I guess I needed to hear that from an impartial observer."

"So you'll go back? You'll let Xavier help you and try to get along with the other students?"

"I'll try."

Spider-Man patted her on the shoulder. "You'll go far, kid."

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Things were not going well for Charles Xavier. Roberto and Rahne's conditions had steadily deteriorated, Kitty and Logan were in the midst of a fight to the death in Japan, Illyana had left, Storm had lost her powers, and she and any X-Men still available were in the middle of fighting a losing battle in which they would surely be killed.

Xavier felt responsible for those last three predicaments. His neglect of Illyana was part of what pushed her away, but there might have been something else to it.

Flashback:

Illyana was still unconscious in the medical lab, and Xavier had asked Storm to check on her. He heard the X-Men's reports on the alternate Storm in Limbo, and wished to see if Illyana had had a connection with her. This was perhaps his best chance to get _some_ information on Illyana.

When Storm had sat down next to Illyana, Xavier mentally nudged the girl awake. Because her mind was not yet ready for consciousness she was delirious.

"Ororo?" she asked.

"Shh." Storm said. "Rest little one."

"I, I tried so hard to be like you," Illyana continued, unaware of the difference in hairstyles between this Storm and the one she knew in Limbo. "but I couldn't create life like you did. I could only create death."

"That's enough, child."

"I'm sorry I killed you." Illyana then drifted back into unconsciousness.

Storm then came up to Xavier, furious. "You did that deliberately!" she accused.

"Did what?"

"You know what! No information you could have gotten was worth the risk! How much damage could you have done to her mind?"

"I.. we.. need to know what has happened to her, what she's capable of."

"And I am shocked, Professor, by what _you_ are capable of." Storm walked off, and out of the mansion.

End Flashback:

Storm had never returned to the mansion. She had gone to visit Rogue, and both were attacked by government agents who were armed with weapons that stripped mutants of their powers. They used them on Storm, who was now powerless.

Xavier wondered if the incident in the medical lab was what kept Storm from coming back to the mansion afterwards, just as he wondered whether or not Illyana remembered what he did. (_she doesn't remember._) Did neither one trust him anymore?

In a few minutes it would not matter for Storm. She, Colossus, Rogue, and Nightcrawler were about to die, and there was nothing Xavier could do to help them.

A circle of light answered his prayers. "Illyana. Thank goodness. The X-Men need your help."

/

_The next chapter should be up by Tuesday night. There is no excuse for my taking this ling to update. I need to do better._

_This chapter and the two before it were actually not done for their own sake. I couldn't think of a reason why she would agree to join the New Mutants at all, so I decided to have her go to the opposite extreme of leaving the mansion entirely first. In this story original chapters will only come in response to that kind of problem, so I doubt there will be anymore. I do have a sequel in mind already, however, that will be entirely original._

_This is one of those things that I'll be doing to make Illyana more important to the Marvel Universe in general._

_Next time: Attack of the wraiths_


	14. Reconciliation

_I lost the internet for a while. Had a heck of a time trying to get it back up._

_This is from the opening of Uncanny X-Men issue 188._

/

The four X-Men, Colossus, Rogue, Nightcrawler, the recently empowered Storm, and the sorceress Amanda Sefton faced off against an army of demons. The swarm was endless, coming through a hole in space. Despite their powers, skills, and, in Storm's case, weaponry, all but the sorceress were overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the opposing numbers. When one of the demons grazed Rogue's face she absorbed its form, memories, powers, and its deadly purpose. She turned on her friends, the most powerful demon of all.

It was into this chaotic situation that Illyana Rasputin teleported, at Charles Xavier's behest. The first thing she noticed was that these demons were the same species, the dire wraiths, that she had chased off of Rom the space knight (_remember Rom annual 3_).

Illyana summoned her soulsword and leapt into the center of the conflict. A 360 degree swipe of her blade cleared the wraiths away from the three remaining X-Men. She then worked her way to Amanda, who was battling the Rogue-wraith to a standstill. The gypsy sorceress was surprised to see the tip of a sword poke through her opponent's chest, and was almost as surprised as the demonic features dissipated, leaving only a human, but unconscious Rogue.

"Thank you." she told the blonde sorceress responsible. Together the two magic users pushed the wraiths back towards the hole they came threw. "But we have to close that hole."

"Right." Illyana responded. The soulsword disappeared from her hands and blaster bolts from storm (_or is it laser bolts, or neutralizer bolts? I don't know._) took Illyana's place in driving the wraiths back. With a few seconds' breathing room Illyana cast wards between the heroes and the wraiths. Then she constricted the wards until they were the same diameter as the hole, forcing all of the wraiths back inside.

"Wards?" Amanda asked. "That's dangerous!"

"Do you have a better idea?" Illyana asked. "If not then we've still got to close the hole."

The two sorceresses began to cast their enchantments to seal the hole, all the while the wraiths clawed at the wards, trying to get out. Small cuts appeared on Illyana's person, one for each slash at her wards. Despite their combined efforts Illyana and Amanda were unable to even shrink the hole by more than three inches off its original diameter of twenty-four feet.

"How are they reinforcing it against us?" Illyana screamed.

Amanda turned her head towards the X-Men. "There must still be one of them on this side, casting spells to keep it open as well as the spells from the other side!"

"When I came," Storm said, "I fought and injured one of these creatures outside. I thought that the cold had killed it, but maybe it is keeping the rift open." She instructed Nightcrawler to teleport her outside to that wraith's location.

Before they were gone Illyana's attention was diverted again towards her wards, or rather, the lack of resistance she felt against the wards. All the wraiths had suddenly disappeared from the hole.

"Oh dear." Amanda said. "Forget about closing the thing, girl! Put all your power to your wards!" As she completed the order a massive energy blast burst through the hole, stopped only by Illyana's shield. The Russian sorceress collapsed, the resulting injuries leaving her unable to maintain the wards any longer.

Luckily Amanda felt the resistance to her spells drop before a second blast could be fired. Storm had killed the troublesome wraith, leaving Amanda free to close the hole completely.

In the minutes that followed the battle, Storm went off to find Forge, the man responsible for her power loss, Amanda and Nightcrawler, the two lovers, caught up with each other, Rogue was stilled unconscious, and Illyana and Colossus were left alone.

Illyana gulped. After her display of power here she could no longer hide her abilities from her brother, even though she was still terrified of his reaction. He had not truly trusted her since her return from Limbo. 'At least he can't be too angry at me when I'm hurt like this.' she thought.

"I'm… grateful for the assistance, Illyana," he said, "but what _was_ all that you did? I knew, after S'ym's attack that you could teleport, but not that you could create swords and shield."

"Teleporting _is_ my mutant power, brother. I could do those other things because I'm…I'm…a..a sorceress."

Piotr was taken aback. "A sorceress, Snowflake?"

"Yes." Illyana's nervousness caused her to speak almost too quickly for her brother to understand. "Professor Xavier sensed the fight and thought that I might make the difference. I'm glad I did." The last sentence was said slower than the one preceding it.

It was Pitor's turn to be nervous. "When you left, Illyana, I feared that _I _had driven you away, like I drove away Kayta."

"No, no." Illyana reassured her brother. "There were a lot of things that drove me away, but _you _weren't one of them." (_He kind of was, but Illyana is conveniently forgetting that here,_)

Colossus breathed a deep sigh of relief, then allowed the revelation to sink in. "A sorceress… I knew you had changed, Illyana Nikolievna, during your captivity in Limbo, but I had no idea how much."

"I was more than the dark lord's captive, Piotr." Illyana admitted with shame. "I became his apprentice."

Colossus looked at s=her with a serious expression for nearly ten seconds, which seamed like hours to Ilyana because of how much she feared his reaction. Finally, his face broke into a wide smile.

"Whatever happened to you, whatever you are, you always have been, and always will be, my sister." He embraced her in a hug that nearly cracked her ribs despite his being in human form. "And, Little Snowflake, a truer, lovlier girl does not exist on this world, or any other!"

Illyana was nearly in tears. It was the first time since her return from Limbo that her brother told her that he loved her. "I love you too, Piotr. I love you too."

/

_A shorty. And a late one. Darn internet._

_I hope the scene with Illyana and Colossus was more emotional than the version in the comics. That conversation always disappointed me in that respect._

_And in the comic, what was Illyana doing flying through the air? It had nothing to do with her teleporting. _


	15. Exorcism

Professor Xavier, all of the New Mutants, all of the X-Men besides Wolverine and Kitty Pryde (_who were in Japan fighting Ogun_), and the superheroes formerly known as cloak and dagger sat in the living room of the X-mansion. The reason was the two youngest mutants present (_physically_), Rahne and Roberto.

It had taken a long time, but Xavier had eventually determined the cause of their symptoms. Many months earlier they had been injected with a mutagenic drug, the same that transformed Tandy an Tyrone into Cloak and Dagger, who used their powers to neutralize the drug. It seemed that their cure had lost its effect, and the serum was once again coursing through Sunspot and Wolfsbane's veins, slowly transforming them into God knows what.

Once he had made a diagnosis Xavier immediately took his afflicted students to Cloak and Dagger again to read minister their cure, but the last thing anyone expected happened. Somehow the mutagenic serum allowed the kids to unintentionally siphon Cloak and Daggers powers, Roberto the darkness of Cloak and Rahne the light of Dagger. Rahne's problems were solved by this development, as the light overwhelmed the negative changes she had undergone. Roberto's predicament, on the other hand, was exasperated. The shadow had a mind of its own-the light also did, but its was more benevolent-which hungered for life energy. Cloak had for years been able to control the shadow, but Roberto was barely keeping it in check. Unfortunately, Cloak and Dagger were now unable to help, as they were now powerless (_a lot of that going around Marvel at that time_).

Which brought everyone to the living room, trying to find a way to remove the powers from Rahne and Roberto. Xavier felt that the light might be potentially dangerous to Rahne and should be removed along with the darkness. He first had Rogue try to absorb the shadow power from Roberto, but the shadow was intelligent, and exploded out of Roberto before Rogue could touch him. It enveloped Rogue and all others present, except for Rahne, whom the light power protected, and began to drain their life energy.

The shadow's meal was cut short, however, when Illyana struck it with hr soulsword. The energy of the blade would have been a feast for the shadow, if it was not too great for even the power of Cloak to handle. The shadow retreated back into Roberto, stronger than ever.

Seeing this, Xavier realized that Illyana's magics might hold the key to saving Rahne and Roberto and wondered why he did not think to use her before. It was probably because he had never relied on her in the past and had little idea of what she could do. But now she had finally agreed to officially join the New Mutants, taking the codename Magik. This did not relieve the bad blood between her and her new teammates, but perhaps having her save Roberto and Rahne could go a long way towards that end. "Illyana," he asked, "do you have a spell that could exorcise the powers from Rahne and Roberto?"

Illyana was surprised by the question. She had actually never considered using her powers to help Rahne and Roberto, but now that she was thinking about it, if the powers were susceptible at all to sorcery then she had just the spell. Assuming she had enough power to pull it off, of course. Exorcisms were very draining. "Yeah." she said. "But it won't destroy the powers, and the shadow's going to be pretty mad."

"We'll worry about that after we remove them. Now proceed."

Everyone except for Rahne, Roberto, and Illyana, the latter of whom walked to the center of the room, moved towards the walls. Rahne, whose Christian sensibilities were unaffected by her acquiring the light power, became more distressed than ever.

"Professor!" she cried. "Yeh cannea let her cast spells on me!"

"Its for your own good, Rahne." Xavier tried to soothe her, but Rahne only panicked more and transformed into her half wolf form.

"No! This is wrong! Its evil! I'll have no part in it!"

Illyana had half a mind to comply with Rahne's wishes. She had had quite enough over the past months of Rahne's constant blabbering about how Illyana was evil just because she was a witch. If Rahne didn't want her help then for all Illyana cared she and Roberto could stay as they were. Roberto had a similar attitude to Rahne's, which may have been worse because Rahne at least had the excuse of being religious to justify her treatment of Illyana. Roberto would have protested as well under normal circumstances, but the shadow was causing him so much pain that he would accept any cure, even from Illyana, who stood motionless and expressionless as Rahne's outburst continued and she started to move away.

When Rahne had moved enough so that she and Roberto were equidistant from Illyana the sorceress extended her hand toward Rahne. "You'll stay where you are, Rahne, and remain human." The werewolf indeed froze in place and was forced back into human form (_The same spell Belasco_ _cast on Illyana to strip her of her powers after her rebellion in Limbo._).

"I cannae move!" Rahne screamed. "Leave us alone you witch!" The X-Men and New Mutants alike were astounded at Illyna's ability to literally turn off powers. Xavier thought that this development would not help his reconciliation efforts between Illyana and the New Mutants one bit.

The collective awe grew even greater when a pentagram of silver flame suddenly appeared between Illyana, Rahne, and Roberto. Illyana stood in the center, while Roberto and Rahne stood at two different ends of the star. The falmes harmed no one and caused no damage. Illyana had summoned silver fire, a sign of white magic, but again faced the bottom of the pentagram, the side f dark magic.

Illyana raised her hands and began to recite her enchantments. Slowly, a blob of light came out of Rahne and a blob of darkness came out of Roberto. When the two powers had completely left their hosts they hung in the air, completely still, for almost ten seconds.

Then, without warning, both powers shot towards the being responsible for their exorcism, Illyana. She was unprepared for the onslaught of both powers, and the silver flames disappeared as they both entered her body. She screamed as the light and shadow began to battle for dominance within her, their struggle akin to the one waged in her soul, only far more physically painful.

Illyana tried to cast spells on herself to destroy the powers, but none had any effect on them. Finally, on the verge of passing out, she was forced to banish the powers from her being and return them to Roberto and Rahne.

Colossus immediately rushed forward to help his heavily breathing sister. Xavier asked "What went wrong?"

Taking a seat Illyana said "Depending on your point of view, everything, or nothing. The exorcism worked perfectly, but once that was complete I couldn't destroy the powers. Instead they went into _me._ I…think that they can't be destroyed, only contained in a human host. The strain of both powers nearly killed me, so I had to cancel my spell and return the powers to Roberto and Rahne."

"I see. Do you think that you could do it again, and force the powers into particular hosts?" Xavier looked at Tandy and Tyrone.

All eyes turned to the former heroes as everyone began to realize what Xavier was suggesting. "I could maybe do it one more time," Illyana said, "but I don't think-"

Tandy cut her off and addressed Tyrone. Both had expressed a not so secret joy at being normal once again ever since they lost their powers. Tyrone, especially, was happier than he had been since becoming Cloak, as he no longer had to carry and control the shadow inside him. "We've been heroes for a while,' Tandy said, "and what does being a hero mean, if not sacrifice?"

Tyrone nodded. "We _can_ handle the powers better than the kids, but I don't know if I can take the shadow back now."

"What other way is there?" Tandy asked him.

"I don't know!" Tyrone snapped. "But for _you_ it's not a problem, is it!? You had the light! I… had the shadow, the terrible hunger."

"Yes," Tandy ceded, "only you can decide what you want to do."

Tyrone looked from Xavier to Roberto and Rahne, back to Xavier, to Illyana, and finally to Tandy. "All right." he said. "I'll do it."

"Thank you," Xavier smiled weakly at them, "for my students' lives."

"Don't thank us yet." Tandy said.

Tyrone agreed. "Yes, not until we are sure it is over." He turned to Illyana. "Okay, do your thing."

Illyana said "sorry" to Tandy and Tyrone as she began the exorcism again. When all was said and done Roberto was joking about how the only thing he was hungry for now was a cheeseburger and Rahne was torn between elation and resentment at having had a spell cast on her. After he mindscanned them to be sure there were no lasting psychological effects Xavier said "It's over."

"Not quite." Tyrone's voice answered, deeper than it had been before. He and Tandy stood in their costumes, restored to full power. "For us it will never be over."

"But now you can thank us." Tandy laughed. She and Tyrone turned and left.

Xavier looked at all of his students, including Illyana, who had fallen asleep on a chair exhausted from the two exorcisms. 'For all that power,' he thought, smiling, 'she is still just a child.' "I believe it is time we _all went to bed._

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Less than an hour later, Xavier was the only one in the mansion still awake. He did not plan to stay that way for long. He performed a final mindscan of the mansion to ensure all was well, only to be bombarded by a wave of psychic images.

He stopped the mindscan, but the images continued. He could not make sense of what he saw. Illyana holding a staff on which the heads of Kitty and Colossus were placed. Illyana running Xavier and Storm through with her sword. Illyana casting a spell on Wolverine and Nightcrawler, turning them into demon servants.

Xavier raced into the living room where Illyana was still asleep. Through the visions he could see that Illyana's body was shaking uncontrollably. As Xavier saw an image of Illyana holding a dagger over an aged Storm Illyana woke up with a start and a silent scream. Xavier came over to her and hugged her. She was drenched in sweat and breathing very heavily. "It's okay." he said. "It's okay."

He knew that Rahne and Roberto were a walk in the park compared to Illyana.


	16. The Hyborian Age of the 21st Century

_Sorry for the wait. I got sick. Really, really sick. I'm just recovering, but I'm back! This was originally two issues, Uncanny 190 and 191, and I couldn't decide where to split it or even to split it at all. I changed a little too much to split it the way the issues were originally split._

_/_

On the roof of what should have been Doctor Strange's sanctum sanctorum, Illyana Rasputin struggled to make sense of her memories. Looking at her hands, she knew that she was definitely a few years older than seven years old. So the fuzzier set of memories had to be the true set.

Illyana tried to focus on the less clear memories. She had been with the X-Men and New Mutants at New York harbor to see Storm off and wish her farewell. Storm felt that she no longer had a place with the X-Men with her powers gone, so she was leaving for Africa for good.

However, Illyana had sensed a duel between two sorcerers the likes of which she had never imagined. Both were that powerful. She teleported to the location of the fight, Doctor Strange's home, to find that the duel was already over and the combatants gone.

Suddenly the world changed. Manhattan ceased to be, and a new kingdom stood in its place, the kingdom of the sorcerer Kulan Gath. It was as if the world as it should be never was. Even clothing changed in appearance. Upon everyone in the city a new set of memories was implanted, completely erasing the true memories. As far as anyone in Manhattan was concerned the island had always been ruled by Kulan Gath.

Illyana received the new set of memories just like everyone else, but kept her true memories as well. Trying to picture them proved to be like trying to recall a dream, but they were there. The double set of memories confused Illyana, and it was some time before she was able to collect her thoughts into a coherent manner.

Given that in the new memories she was never abducted by Belasco and would still be just a little kid Illyana knew that they must have been false. From there she was able to analyze the situation. Kulan Gath and Doctor Strange must have been dueling, and Gath won. Gath then cast a spell over Manhattan, bending it to his will. How he had the power to do that, or to alter the memories of millions of people Illyana had no idea. It should have been impossible for a mortal to possess such power. One thing was certain: Illyana could not take him alone.

But she probably wouldn't have to. According to the implanted memories many X-Men and Avengers were rebelling against Gath. It seemed that Gath's spells did not alter the personalities of those affected. Others, such as her brother Colossus, Professor Xavier, the rest of the Avengers, almost all of the Morlocks, and all of the New Mutants, had fallen under Gath's control. Illyana could only assume that Gath had launched attacks on each of them while she tried to sort through her memories, with some escaping and some becoming enslaved. Illyana realized with a jolt that even the enslaved may have been the lucky ones. She had no new memory of Amara or Rachel Grey; both must have perished in the assualt.

Illyana knew that she had to reach the rebels. She was likely the only one with the knowledge of how things should have been. Illyana attributed this to the psiblocks that prevented telepaths from accessing her mind. The problem was that Gath's spell also prevented her from teleporting, and if she wanted to avoid detection by the sorcerer she could not use magical means that could be sensed. Her only choice was to search on foot while under a cloaking spell.

Illyana began to slowly make her way towards New York harbor, hoping to run into the X-Men who escaped Gath's control. Having gone three quarters of a mile she encountered an unexpected sight: Spider-Man being chased by gargoyle like creatures that Gath had created to track and capture his enemies. The strange thing was that Spider-Man was in full costume, as if the spells on the city had no effect on him. One of the creatures flew into the air and cut the web Spider-Man was swinging from. The web slinger fell to Earth, but was caught by another gargoyle. "The master will be pleased." it said.

Illyana, who had hidden behind a corner when she saw the creatures, was about to attack them, but one of them looked around and spoke to the others. "You sense that?"

"Yeah," another responded. "There's a sorcerer nearby." 'Crap.' Illyana thought as she heard that. "Powerful one too."

The creature holding Spider-Man said "I'll take this one to the master. The rest of you capture or kill the sorcerer." It flew off while the rest advanced on Illyana's position.

Illyana was saved, however, when a circular shield flew into the lead gargoyle, knocking it into its companions. The shield circled around, back into the hand of Captain America. His garb, while still blue, looked like that of a medieval knight. His face was uncovered and his hair was long and wild.

"Go get them!" the Captain yelled. At his command dozens of heroes, all armed with swords, charged the creatures. Starfox and Rogue, the strongest of the heroes, ripped their opponents apart. Callisto, the only Morlock to escape Gath's control, ran her sword through one gargoyle again and again, shrieking how she would do the same to Gath. The last surviving creature tried to fly away, but Nighcrawler teleported onto its back. He covered its eyes with his hands and steered it back towards the ground, telephoning to safety an instant before it landed. Although it did not move again after landing the heroes still cut it into pieces to be certain it was dead.

Callisto, especially, had gotten into the fight and had been screaming and swinging her sword wildly. As she calmed down she said "Well, that was fun. Lets go do the same to the big cheese!"

"Patience, Callisto." Cap replied. "We're not ready. At present I'm more concerned with finding this sorcerer they were talking about."

"Look no further, Captain." Illyana said, finally revealing herself. "I'm right here."

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"A sorcerer, you say?"

"Yes master. The others are dealing with him."

The sorcerer laughed at his grotesque servant. "You believe that your friends are capable of defeating a sorcerer of the power you describe? No. They are already dead.

"Moonstar, Sunder, Colossus, Cannonball, Wolfsbane!" Five of his enchanted servants stepped forward. "Go with this creature and bring me the sorcerer he found!" They bowed to their master and left.

'I did not expect any sorcerers other than Stephan Strange.' Kulan Gath thought to himself. 'Then again, this island has a larger population than the entire ancient world. It would follow that here alone there should be more sorcerers than there were in my time.'

Kulan Gath was a sorcerer from the Hyborian age, the time of Conan the Barbarian. His body had been destroyed, but his essence remained, tied to the amulet in the necklace he wore. When Mary Jane Watson had come into possession of the necklace and under its power Gath attempted to recreate his body and cast his master spell over the world, but he was foiled when Spider-Man freed the Watson girl from his control and threw the necklace into the Hudson river, where it could have lain forever. But by chance, it was recovered by a fisherman, and Kulan Gath finally succeeded in obtaining a new body and casting his master spell to make New York like his original time. It would be soon that the spell would grow powerful enough to spread beyond Manhattan Island and encompass the world. The only loose ends were the continued rebellion of the indigenous super heroes, but they would fall under his control, or die.

In the meantime, Gath turned his attention to fully repaying his captured foe, Spider-Man, for the embarrassment he had suffered at the wall crawler's hands.

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"So none of this is real." Captain America was having a hard time accepting what the child before him was saying. After all, who would believe that all of their memories were lies and that the world they lived in was created only hours earlier.

"Yes. And when we stop Gath everything should return to the way it was."

"Easier said than done." Everyone turned to see a black haired woman walking towards them, followed by two teenage girls.

"Selene." Illyana growled, recognizing from descriptions the vampiric sorceress. But there was something wrong. Illyana sensed _three_ Selenes instead of one.

"A pleasure, young one." Selene said to Illyana. At the older sorceress' side were Amara Aquilla of the New Mutants, and Rachel Summers, the newest X-Man and a mutant with great telepathic and telekinetic powers. Illyana was relieved to see that they were alive, but not very happy that to her mystic senses they felt the same as Selene.

"You soul bound them to yourself right after this happened. They were too confused to resist you." Illyana accused.

Selene ignored her accusation. "Kulan Gath is an old enemy of mine. I know how powerful he is. His powers are magnified by the necklace he wears. It makes him stronger than any of us." Noticing that Illyana was angry enough to attack her Selene added, "You need my help to take him down."

"Fine." Illyana agreed, although she was still angry with the sorceress her teammates had compared her to before learning just how accurate the comparison was. "But after that, I'm taking _you_ down."

Selene laughed. "I'm _immortal_, child. What do you think you can do to me?" In response Illyana swung her hand at Selene. In mid-motion her soul sword appeared in her hand, which came to rest holding the blade at Selene's cheek. Selene's eyes widened first in surprise, then stayed widened in fear as a few seconds later a trickle of blood began to fall from where the soul sword made contact with her skin. Illyana's eyes narrowed as she noticed the delay.

The heroes stood, astonished and bemused at the presence and feud between the two sorceresses. Captain America tried to separate them, until the attack came. A nearby wall seemed to explode, and debris fell on the group, knocking all off their feet. The attackers then scanned the rubble for their prey.

"So the sorcerer you sensed was Selene." Danielle Moonstar, who led the assault, said to the surviving gargoyle creature. "Bring her to the master. We'll destroy the rebels." The creature swooped down before anyone could stand up, grabbed Selene, and flew off with her.

Colossus, who had destroyed the wall which fell on the heroes, ran at them in his armored form. As they rose they began to flee, except for one. Illyana stood her ground against her brother, and when he came close swung her soul sword through him. He reverted to human form and fell at her feet.

The fleeing heroes had a change of heart when the strongest of their opponents fell, as did Mirage. The heroes advanced on her force. "Time to go." she said. Sunder tore off part of another wall, which collapsed between the two groups, separating them. Mirage's group took the opportunity to run away.

"Lets get moving before they come back with reinforcements." Captain America told his group.

"Wait." Illyana replied as they began to leave. She had thrown her brother's arm over her shoulder and was trying to support him. "Can you help me carry him, Captain?"

"Are you nut?" Cap responded. "He'll kill us all when he wakes up! We should kill him now!"

"No." Illyana said. "I've freed him from Gath's control. When he wakes up he will be a powerful ally." She looked right into Cap's eyes and pleaded "Please, he's my brother."

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"So we've lost Colossus?" Gath demanded, furious, even with the capture of his old enemy Selene.

"Yes, my lord." Mirage answered. "But I did not recognize the one who slew him. The rebels have a new recruit."

"This is unacceptable. It is time to crush the rebels once and for all. Xavier should have little trouble locating them."

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Colossus came to in one of the Morlock tunnels. Illyana was alone with him, as she had asked for some privacy. As he groaned and stretched to recover from his bout of unconsciousness, Illyana asked him "Are you all right, Piotr?" (_translated from Russian_)

"What gibberish is that?" he asked in Gath's language.

'Damn.' Illyana thought. 'Even though I've freed him from the slaver spell my soul sword didn't have any affect on the main spell.' "It is the language of our homeland, Piotr." she said sadly in Gath's language.

"_Our _homeland? Who are you?"

"My name is Illyana."

"Oh, my sister's name is Illyana."

"I am your sister."

An awkward silence arose between them as Colossus looked at her, quite confused, and she stared impassively back at him. Finally he said "You are _not_ my sister. She is just a little girl."

Illyana's impassivity broke, and she looked to the side. "And if there was any justice in the true reality, I would be."

"True reality?"

"Yes. Kulan Gath has cast a spell to alter this world and even our memories of how things should be. In this new order things that happened to me would not have happened." Illyana looked back at her brother and struggled not to cry as she recounted her story. "At the age of six I was kidnapped to a dimension outside of time. I was there for seven years even though on Earth only seconds had passed. In that realm I gained my sorceress powers, which have allowed me to remember what is real and what is made up by Kulan Gath." She looked her brother straight in the eyes. "Piotr, it's really me…your little snowflake."

Finally, Colossus believed her.

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Captain America had given them all the time he could spare. He walked into the tunnel where he had left the blonde sorceress and Colossus, to find them embraced in a large hug. "Ahem." he cleared his throat to get their attention. "We're having a meeting to discuss what our next move should be."

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"Strike now." Illyana said. "You're never going to be stronger than you are now. And it'll be the last thing Gath will suspect."

"Maybe, but are we strong _enough_?" Cap asked.

"You've gained myself, my brother, and Rachel and Amara. They may not remember, but in the real reality I knew all of them, and they were very, very powerful."

"We _are _strong enough!" Callisto exclaimed. "We should strike _now_!"

"And there is still Selene trapped in the enemy's base." Storm added. "She could be a great help, if freed."

Illyana shook her head. "Selene is as dangerous as Gath. We have to make do without her."

Captain America was about to speak when the tunnels began to shake. "We're under attack!"

"How?" Storm asked as she and others drew their weapons. "We are shielded from Xavier's telepathy in these tunnels!"

"So when Xavier couldn't find you," Danielle Moonstar's voice came from down the tunnel, "he knew that this is where you must have been." Behind her stood Kulan Gath's army of Avengers, New Mutants, and the entirety of the Morlock tribe.

"There are too many!" Captain America yelled. "Fall back into the tunnels! Regroup on the surface!"

As the heroes retreated a figure burst through the floor between them and their escape route. "Did you think our master so foolish as to leave you a way of escape?" the synthetic man the Vision asked.

"I will not be Kulan Gath's slave again!" Colossus yelled as he engaged the Vision in battle. The fight devolved into a melee, with the powerless slaughtering any with their swords and the powerful plowing their way through the others. Illyana struck many, mostly morlocks, with her soul sword.

Rogue was fighting Cannonball in midair. Their fight collapsed much of the walls and ceiling on the rest, and quickly became the focus of the entire battle. While most watched the aerial brawl, Captain America made his way over to Illyana, who he told to cast a cloaking spell on the retreating heroes.

While Illyana did so Cannonball smashed headlong into Rogue, knocking her into the floor. As she got up she was grabbed from behind by the young morlock Leech. Without her powers she was vulnerable and could not survive when stabbed by a sword.

"Rogue!" Storm yelled as she watched her friend die. The former weather witch abandoned the retreat and threw herself into the battle like Callisto would have done. The heroes lost sight of her in the swarm of Morlocks even as they made their way to the surface.

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"What were you doing, Amara?" Illyana demanded once they were safe. "You have control of the Earth! You could have created earthquakes and volcanoes to help us! Why didn't you _use_ that power?"

"I, I'm sorry!" the Nova Roma girl broke into tears. "I wanted to, but I was just so…so…_scared_!"

As he watched Amara cry Captain America asked Illyana "You were being pretty hard on her."

Illyana shook her head. "The Amara I know is nothing like this sniveling creature. Gath's spell may have altered our memories, but it didn't alter our personalities, except for Amara's it seems."

"She _is_ soul bound now to Selene, as is Rachel." Cap pointed out. "Could that have something to do with it?"

"Doubtful." Illyana said, growing thoughtful.

"Well, we need a head count." Cap said. "We need to know what we have left."

"Rogue is dead." Nightcrawler said. "Ororo is likely dead as well. And I saw that Starfox and the Wasp were captured."

"So they're likely under Gath's slaver spell now." Illyana finished.

"Damn." Cap said. "I hate to say it, but I think that Ororo was right. We need Selene's help if we're going to beat Gath."

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They had split up. Captain America, Colossus, Amara, and Rachel had gone directly to Kulan Gath's new castle to free Selene. The rest were sneaking through the morlock tunnels to launch a surprise assault on said castle as a distraction.

With Rachel's telepathy keeping them invisible to the guards Cap's group made its way into the throne room. There they saw both Selene and Spider-Man, battered, bloody, and attached to large stakes.

Unfortunately, the telepathy had no effect on Gath, who hid himself with an illusion and set four of his servants, Vision, the Scarlet Witch, Starfox, and the Wasp on the four heroes. Starfox had been turned by Gath's spells into a being so beautiful that no female would harm him (_I have no idea what Claremont was on when he thought up that one_) and the wasp had been transformed into an energy draining demon.

Once again Colossus and the Vision fought each other. Cap took out the Wasp by throwing his shield at her, but instead of coming back to his hand the shield turned toward the throne and was snatched by Gath.

Now weaponless Cap could only watch as Rachel and Amara, distracted by Starfox, were knocked out by the Scarlet Witch and as the Vision walked through Colossus at his lowest density and solidified. It proved to much for the men of stone and steel. Both exploded, showering cap in the debris. He collapsed, too injured to fight anymore.

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Gath had also anticipated the assault from the tunnels, and left the New Mutants to deal with it. Mirage, Cannonball, Sunspot, and Wolfsbane attacked them. The resulting fight kept those involved from aiding Captain America in his fight.

Rahne, in her midway form between human and wolf, grabbed Illyana's arms, rendering her soul sword useless, and attempted to twist her arms until they broke. Illyana freed herself by kicking Rahne off of her and promptly ran the werewolf through with the soul sword. Illyana did the same to Mirage from behind while the latter concerned herself with Callisto, and the rest of the New Mutants fell quickly.

The five minutes the fight took was enough for the heroes to realize that they had lost their chance to help Cap. Illyana knew that he had failed, as she still sensed that Gath was at his full power. But at the same time, she sensed that Selene was also at her full power.

"So?" Callisto demanded. "We'll go and face Gath! And if we die too, so be it!"

"At least wait until the New Mutants wake up." Illyana cautioned. "You'll need all the help you can get." Illyana then began to walk off.

"Where are you going?" Callisto asked, none too happy about it.

"To find other allies inside the castle."

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Spider-Man had never felt so bad in his life. Kulan Gath had tortured him in ways to ensure maximum pain and bleeding. He had done the same to Selene right next to him, and promised to kill them both when their screams no longer amused him.

The arrival of Captain America and his group gave the web slinger a few seconds of hope, which was quickly dashed as he watched the group fail and Colossus and the Vision die. Cap's body had been pierced hundreds of times by the explosion of the two superpowers, and he slowly crawled towards where Gath sat on his throne, to faint at Gath's feet.

"You see the fate of all who oppose me." Gath gloated to his two captives. "I don't even think I'll bother making these my slaves. I'll just kill them."

"Not if you're already dead, you won't!" came Callisto's voice. She, the rest of her group, and the New Mutants charged into the throne room at Gath. For another instant Spider-Man felt the surge of hope returning, but again it was fleeting. With a wave of his hand Kulan Gath turned all of the charging heroes to stone.

That was all the arachnid hero could stand. "No more! No more!" he bellowed as he began to pull his arms free of the stake. Gath only watched even as a final yank tore Spider-Man loose. He slowly stood up, but did not advance any closer to Gath. The sorcerer had extended his arm and was holding Spider-Man in a Darth Vader like choke grip.

"Your strength and bravado do you credit, man-spider, but I am amused by your existence no longer. The time has come to diarrrrrrg!" The sorcerer dropped Spider-Man to the ground and clutched his head in pain.

Spider-Man, lying on his back, turned his head towards the entrance, where three figures stood. Illyana Rasputin, Charles Xavier, and Stephan Strange, the latter two freed from Gath's control and captivity respectively.

"His mind is strong." Xavier said. "I will not be able to keep up my mental assault indefinitely."

"Just keep him busy for a few seconds more," Illyana said, advancing on where Rachel and Amara laid. The latter of whom was stirring. "while I take care of 'Amara.'" Illyana shoved her soul sword through Amara's back, knowing that it would not harm the Roman New Mutant. Amara, however, screamed in agony as the blade pierced her, and when Illyana removed her sword, it was not Amara who dropped dead on the floor, but Selene.

"Now, Amara!" Illyana shouted across the room, where Selene's death had broken her illusions, revealing it to have been Amara that Gath had been torturing on the stake. At Illyana's command Amara summoned a volcano beneath Gath's feet, consuming the sorcerer in molten lava.

His necklace still remained, until Illyana stabbed it with her soul sword. She and Xavier went to free Amara, while Dr. Strange healed all survivors in the throne room.

"Why did Gath's death not undo his spell?" Illyana asked Dr. Strange, as New York did not change back to its usual self.

"The spell seems to have taken on a life of its own and cannot be directly countered." Strange answered. "It will eventually spread across the world. However, there may be another way to fight it, although the consequences may be even more dire."

"What?" Illyana demanded.

"I sense in you, Ms. Rasputin, an extraordinary ability to manipulate the forces of time itself. If we combine our magics to focus on this mutant power of yours, we could prevent this tragedy from having ever happened."

"Do we have a choice?"

"Very well." Dr. Strange placed his hands on Illyana's head and began reciting incantations. As soon as Illyana recognized them she also began to recite the same incantations. Eventually the world changed, and everyone in Gath's throne room found themselves in Dr. Stranges sanctum sanctorum. "We have succeeded. We are now several hours before the events of last night, which will not occur this time around. As we were at the nexus of mine and Ms. Rasputin's spell, are the only ones who remember what happened."

"What about those who were killed?" Illyana asked nervously.

"None were, since this night has yet to occur." Illyana breathed a deep sigh of relief. She had no idea what she would do if she were to lose her brother.

Xavier led Dr. Strange away to ask him in private about Illyana. Dr. Strange told him that "There is little I could teach her about the mystic arts, and such knowledge is not what she needs, which is the growth and enlightenment of her spirit. That can come, not from a stranger, but from those who love her."

The professor and the doctor had left Illyana, Rachel, and Amara alone with Captain America and Spider-Man. Cap held his hand out to Illyana, who shook it. "Thanks" he said. "It's nice to know that when we in the 'old guard' retire we'll be leaving the world in good hands with the next generation of heroes."

Illyana's eyes skirted to the left as she weakly smiled at Cap's comment. 'If the next generation of heroes were all like me,' she thought, 'the world will be gone by next Tuesday.'

Spider-Man laughed and gave Illyana another pat on the back. "I told you you'd go far, kid." He congratulated Amara for "taking out old Gathy" and then left, saying something about "having a date to relive."

Xavier and Dr. Strange came back in. Cap went to talk to the Sorcerer Supreme and Xavier had something important to talk to Illyana about.

"It must be overwhelming, the new idea of what your powers are."

Illyana had not thought about it until Xavier brought it up, but now it was overwhelming: the thought that she could undo events in the past. There was one event she _had_ to undo.

"I know that you wish to change history so that you were never abducted to Limbo," Xavier cautioned, "but remember that we are all but mortals, and that is not our decision, or yours, to make."

"But Professor," Illyana reasoned, "how would that be different from what we just did?"

"And we don't know what consequences may result. It may lead to an even worse situation arising. I know that it would be tempting to rewrite your childhood, or events like World War Two, but you cannot be certain of the results. And perhaps some good came those events as well as the bad."

"What good came from my spending my childhood in Limbo?" Illyana scoffed.

"You've done a lot of good since then. If you hadn't aged in Limbo what would have happened to Kitty with the Hellfire Club, or Dani when her parents attacked as the demon bear, or with Hybrid, or with the Dire Wraiths, or when Roberto and Rahne were sick, or tonight? "

Finally Illyana began to realize that Xavier was right. "I can't ever explore that aspect of my powers. The temptation would be too great."

Xavier nodded. "Recognizing your limits is part of growing up."

/

_I hope it wasn't hard to follow such a long chapter. In the comic Dr. Strange said that stuff about Illyana's powers and used them in that exact way to alter the past, but it was never again touched on. I think I gave a good reason why it would never be touched on in the main universe again, although in the alternate universes such as the House of M it should have been at least mentioned._

_Next time: The beginning of the Fat Karma saga._


	17. The Gladiators

_The hiatus is over./_

Cannonball touched down at the California airport. Although Illyana, whom he had been carrying, had significantly reduced the length of the journey through her teleportation disks, flying from New York to California had exhausted Sam. They had had to stay within sight of the plane they were following, for it contained two of their teammates.

They watched as the plane unloaded, its passengers and prisoners herded into two roofed jeeps. One man entered a third jeep and drove in a different direction than the ones that carried the prisoners. Unfortunately for him, there was a large disk of light in the direction he went and he found himself driving through a ghastly realm.

* * *

Even worse, his car stopped with a sudden jerk. He was forced forward into his seatbelt hard enough to leave burn marks on his torso. He tried stepping on the gas, to no avail. He then looked behind him, to see a gigantic purple monster holding onto the back of his jeep.

He turned his head to his window, which was being tapped on by a blonde teenage girl. He rolled down the window. "What's the meaning of this, kid?" he demanded, unable to take his situation seriously.

"We're the ones asking the questions here, fella." a tall boy behind her answered.

"For instance," the blonde continued, "we were hoping that you could tell us about the Gladiators.'

He looked her hard in the eye and said "Get lost."

The blonde shrugged. "S'ym."

In response the purple monster lifted up the jeep and began to shake it violently. 'OK! OK!" the driver shouted, now more frightened than in his entire life. "You win!"

* * *

"Was it really necessary t' change his memory?" Sam asked as the jeep sped off.

"We can't have him alerting the gladiators that we followed them." Illyana answered in a matter-of-fact manner. "Nor could we just hold him in Limbo. His disappearance would be almost as bad."

"Ah know. But Ah just don't feel comfortable with it."

A hint of disgust worked its way into Illyana's voice. "He doesn't deserve your sympathy."

Sam clenched his fists in anger. "You got that right. What they're doing…it's worse'n slavery! Ah've never been so itchin' for a fight before!"

"We'll have to wait on that one. You're too burned out from flying here to do much good in a battle. Do you want to teleport back to the mansion to rest?"

"No. There's no one there now anyway. Ah actually know someone in L.A. we can stay at…someone who may be able to help us."

"Who?"

* * *

"Oh. Her."

Sam knocked on the door of the mansion. A big man with dark glasses that hid his eyes completely opened it. He was tall enough to look down at Sam. "Get lost kids."

Sam spoke with unusual confidence. "Pardon me sir, but Ah'm Sam Guthrie."

The security guard lowered his glasses to have a better look at Sam. "Sam Guthrie, huh. Awright, come inside."

The guard led them through the halls of the mansion to a large living room, where an eccentric looking woman was sitting on the couch and watching videos of herself. "Sam Guthrie to see you Miss Cheney."

"Sam!" Lila Cheney leapt off the sofa to bombard Sam with kisses as Illyana watched with a little bit of disgust. When she finally gave Sam room to breathe he wiped the lipstick from his face. "It's good to see you too, Lila."

Lila Cheney looked at the good looking blonde who accompanied Sam. "Who are you?" she asked tersely.

"Ahem." Sam said. "This is my friend, Illyana Rasputin."

"Just friends?" Lila asked.

"Just friends." Sam answered.

"Good."

"We're here on business, Miss Cheney." Illyana said, just as tersely as Lila had spoken to her.

"Right. Business." Lila laid down on the couch and put her hands under her head. "So what can I do for you?"

"We're trying to infiltrate an outfit called the Gladiators." Sam.

"Gladiators. Right. Guido!" Lila snapped at her guard. "Get Alison down here!" As Guido walked off Lila asked "So what are you after the Gladiators for?"

"They kidnapped two of our friends." Sam answered.

"Can it be called kidnapping when they let themselves be captured?" Illyana asked.

"What else would you call it? Anyways, they've got our friends. We want 'em back, and we want to shut them down."

"Well your in luck." Lila said. "Alison here knows all about the gladiators."

Sam and Illyana turned around to see Guido standing with Alison Blaire, the singer known as Dazzler who had recently destroyed her career by outing herself as a mutant. "The Gladiators are still in business?" she asked.

Lila nodded. "And still kidnapping mutants to fight to the death in their tournaments, it seems."

"How do you know about the Gladiators?" Illyana asked.

Alison took a long breath before answering. "After the disaster with my movie I was depressed. I had nothing. I actually was so numb that I let the Gladiators recruit me. I needed the escape, the distraction. I…I…"

"_You liked_ fighting in the Gladiator matches." Illyana finished, her eyes narrowing.

Alison nodded. "Hank McCoy got me out and we destroyed the operation. Now I'm working for Lila. But I guess we didn't do a good enough job the first time we shut them down."

"So you'll help them, Alison?" Lila asked.

"Yes."

* * *

"Good. I'll get you three tickets for tomorrow."

Illyana, Sam, and Alison sat in their seats in the stands, waiting for that day's Gladiator matches to begin. Alison leaned forward to tap one of the men sitting in front of them. "I'd heard this place was closed."

"It was, but th' new owner got things going again. Now it's better than ever." Alison leaned back and mouthed the words 'new owner' to herself.

Illyana examined the program they received on the way in. "The second match includes a 'lava girl' and 'the living shadow.'" she whispered to Sam.

"Sure sounds like them, 'Yana. So we'll make our move then."

Illyana turned to Alison, who was staring very intently at the circus size fighting ring. "Did you get that?"

She startled Alison. "What? Oh, sorry."

"Amara and Roberto are in the second fight. That's when we strike."

"Got it."

Illyana shook her head and sighed. The first match was about to begin. There were four mutants pitted against each other in a fight to the death. It was a brutal brawl, that left the crowd cheering and Sam and Illyana's stomachs churning. Both wanted to intervene then and there, but there were too many mutants with the Gladiators. They would need the help of Sunspot and Magma. 'The X Men have an impeccable sense of timing for being away.' Illyana reflected. The rest of the New Mutants team was busy in Scotland. Something was wrong with the son of Charles Xavier, David Haller.

Illyana looked again at Alison, who had gotten up and walked to the aisle to get a better view. She had a longing, almost hungry look on her face.

"This is like a drug for her." Illyana told Sam. "She's addicted."

"Ah can see that. She'll have her chance when we go on the offensive."

"She's our weak link, Sam. It might not be wise to trust her."

"A bit ago Ah would have agreed with you, 'Yana," Sam said, turning to face her, "but meeting _you _has taught me that Ah should be a bit more open minded about trusting people."

Illyana smiled. "Thanks." Things had certainly changed between her and the rest of the New Mutants. After her exorcism, even Rahne was grateful to Illyana, even if she wasn't fully ready to accept her yet. But Illyana now believed that that day would come. It already had for most of the other New Mutants. Kitty had been right about the 'x-babies' all along.

"Speaking of trust," Illyana continued to whisper, "you know how Professor Xavier is looking for someone to take over for him at the school temporarily?" Their teacher was gravely injured in an attack by drunk, mutant hating students.

"Yah."

"I overheard him talking to Dr. MacTaggert just before they left for Muir Island. He's thinking of having _Magneto _replace him."

"No way!"

"The professor says he's been keeping tabs on Magneto since the Beyonder put him with the heroes on Battleworld instead of with the villains. He thinks Magneto has really reformed."

"Ah don't know what to think about that."

"For the moment, I guess we don't." she and Sam both winced as the winner, the largest fighter, snapped the neck of his last opponent. "Amara and Roberto are coming out any minute."

Sure enough, as soon as the cleaning crews were finished 'cleaning up the mess,' a bell sounded, signaling the beginning of the next match. The four fighters entered the ring from the four corners.

As soon as they saw their teammates Illyana and Sam sprang into action. Illyana teleported in front of one of the fighters, cowing him by holding her soul sword to his neck. Sam blasted from the stands into the other fighter, knocking him out. He then swung around the edge of the ring, picking up Roberto and Amara before landing next to Illyana.

Roberto transformed into Sunspot and punched the fighter in front of them. "Took you long enough, hombre'." he said to Sam.

"It was your choice to risk infiltrating them." Illyana replied, brandishing her sword at the wall of mutants charging at them.

A bright light flashed from behind the New Mutants, blinding their attackers and stopping them in their tracks. Illyana turned around to see Dazzler leaping over the wall of the ring as the crowd ran hysterically for the exits.

Sam took the opportunity to blast headlong into their ranks. Sunspot yelled "Strike!" as a mass of people toppled over. He ran forwards to join the fight. Amara turned silently into her molten form. She and Illyana then walked forward together slowly, intending to intimidate.

Behind them, Dazzler was getting even more into the fight than Sunspot. She laughed as her photon blasts knocked down faceless foes. _This _was what she'd been missing recently.

But this battle was not to be completed. First the building shook a little. Then even the floor shook violently. Finally the entire roof was lifted away.

The mass of mutants fighting the New Mutants dispersed and fled, for the red outfit and helmet of the man who floated down from the sky were unmistakable.

It was the costume of the world's most famous terrorist: Magneto.

He landed without a sound, his cape billowing impressively behind him. "Charles Xavier requested that I find you."

The young mutant eyed him suspiciously. None of them were ready to believe him. "This better be good." Sam said.

"You will see." the Master of Magnetism answered ominously./

_Sam and Lila Cheney met and became an item in New Mutants annual 1. Illyana was in that original issue, but in the timeline of my story that incident occurred while she was away._

_Dazzler's adventures with Hank McCoy and the Gladiators took place in the Beauty and the Beast mini series._

_Next Time: The One From Beyond _


	18. The One From Beyond

_Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story. They are all the property of Marvel comics./_

It was, Illyana decided, quite an impressive gathering. The Fantastic Four, two groups of Avengers, the X-Men, Doctor Strange, and a host of other super heroes massed a mile outside of Los Angeles. It was a force powerful enough to destroy the world several times over, and Illyana doubted very much that even this Beyonder that was so feared could stand against it.

The bigger problem seemed to be that these heroes were on the verge of fighting amongst themselves. Magneto's presence was a destabilizing factor. Professor Xavier had been able to alert the heroes in New York that the Beyonder was heading for Los Angeles, but was not strong enough to reach the X-Men. Instead he sent Magneto to gather them and the New Mutants who were already in Los Angeles.

Magneto was not helping matters by staring at her out of the corner of his eye. Not only had Illyana noticed how his attention was on her, but the heroes who knew Illyana best, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Captain America, did as well. And they did not try to hide their displeasure with it. They doubtlessly thought that Magneto had malicious intentions to use her in some plot for world domination.

That may have been true, but Illyana suspected that Charles Xavier was to blame. It did not make sense for the professor to only send the members of the junior team that were already in Los Angeles. If Xavier wanted the New Mutants there he could easily have sent the rest in the blackbird. It also did not make sense that Magneto accepted the refusal of Amara and Roberto to accompany him and their insistence on staying with the Gladiators until that job was finished without any argument, unless he was never sent to bring _them._

No. Xavier had told Magneto to find one New Mutant in particular, and now Magneto was wondering what was so special about her, a desire that was only reinforced by the negative reactions some of the heroes were giving him. Illyana wondered if Xavier trusted Magneto enough to tell him just what Illyana could do. At the moment, Illyana guessed not.

For now, Magneto would have to contend himself with seeing that Illyana was close with Kitty Pryde. The two girls sat slightly apart from the X Men, talking to each other.

"Long wait." Kitty said.

"Life would be easier if the bad guys kept to a schedule."

"It sure would make allocating my homework time easier. We've still got that history paper due next week."

"I thought you finished it Kitty."

"That was our math paper. Sheesh, when's this guy coming? I think your brother 's gonna try to kick the stuffing out of Magneto before then."

"He better remember to not change to metal then. I actually don't think that the Beyonder is going to show up at all. I know _I_ wouldn't want to face all this."

Kitty grinned. "You think you'd fight everyone here?"

Illyana also smiled. "Guess not. But that army of demons in Limbo could."

"Pheh. All growl, no bite." Kitty then assumed a serious expression. "Actually. I hope the Beyonder _does_ show up. I'm looking forward to kicking his butt."

Illyana looked around at her brother, who was pacing quickly back and forth. He and Kitty had been seeing each other before the Secret Wars, but on battle world he had fallen in love with an alien woman. When he came he said that his feelings for Kitty had changed. Kitty still hadn't gotten over their breaking up, and she clearly blamed the Beyonder.

"Even if he does show, the plan is just to get him to leave Earth. We only kick his butt if he refuses."

* * *

He recognized most of them, yes. But there were more than a dozen that he had never seen before. He'd studied the rest by pitting them against villains on battle world. Unfortunately there were no villains around.

Still, all he needed was to find someone in this city with the heart of a villain.

* * *

**Boom!**

The explosion shook the ground. The assembled heroes all looked in the direction of the city, in whose mist a giant cloud of smoke was rising. "That was in downtown!" someone yelled. All at once the heroes sprang into action. The X-Men arrived first via Illyana's stepping disk.

They found that the explosion they had felt was actually many small explosions. Every vehicle on the block had been blown up, including an eighteen wheel tractor trailer with a full gas tank. In the center was the carnage was a man dressed in a ridiculous gold outfit and helmet, laughing maniacally and shooting bolts of lightning from his hands in every direction.

"Looks like we're kicking his butt after all." Kitty said to Illyana.

Magneto heard her. "Despite his appearance, do not underestimate this foe. It would be a fatal mistake."

Wolverine was already charging the Beyonder, claws drawn and screaming in an animalistic rage. He was promptly cut down by a lightning bolt. Nightcrawler, who had teleported on top of the Beyonder, was zapped the moment he touched him. Magneto then rose into the air and attempted to use his control over electromagnetic fields to deflect the Beyonder's lightning bolts back at him, but their foe was unaffected.

"Magneto wasn't kidding." Kitty said in awe.

"We'll see." Illyana answered. She extended her right hand towards the Beyonder. From it shot bands of energy. They coiled around the Beyonder, ensnaring him in mystical chains. He struggled and screamed in frustration at his inability to free himself.

Magneto lowered himself to the ground and looked at Illyana again, this time nodding to himself. Illyana, however, was bemused.

"I've got demons who could get out of that."

Kitty laughed. "Don't complain."

Magneto and Rachel Summers both looked troubled, however. "She is right. We should not have been able to beat the Beyonder this easily." Magneto said.

"And why was he only using lightning?" Wolverine added as he sat up.

"You're saying this isn't him?" Kitty asked.

"Well, you see, liebling," Nightcrawler said, also recovering from the electric shock, "no one really knows what he looks like. We just assumed this was him."

"I've been sensing some sort of…deception." Rachel Summers said. "I think this was a test."

* * *

Interesting. The little golden haired one was one to watch. Not for her power, but for what she was. She was even worse on the inside than Stewart Cadwell, who was now being interrogated by Wolverine about the violence he had caused. And yet she was allied with these heroes.

The other heroes were only now beginning to arrive. The X-Men were filling them in on what had transpired. 'Should I free Cadwell?' he wondered. 'Give him even more power to test the other ones I do not know?'

No. They already knew that Cadwell was not him. It was finally time to reveal himself.

"I am the one you call the Beyonder."

The sudden appearance of this newcomer, who had long black hair and was the same height and weight as Captain America, startled the heroes. They all stood in stances poised for battle, but this time they did not attack immediately. This time the situation called for caution.

Captain America stepped in front of the Beyonder. "Are you responsible for what this man has done?"

"I gave him his power." the Beyonder continued to smile as he answered.

"That is why we are here. Your presence would, _is, _creating too much chaos. Beyonder, on behalf of the people of Earth, I ask you to leave this planet immediately."

The Beyonder tilted his head to the side slightly, his smile still on his face. "Chaos? So humanity desires order. That's good. I do too. I think I'll like it here."

"So you refuse to leave?"

"Yes."

"That's it." Wolverine raised his claws at the Beyonder. "One way or another your leaving, bub."

Captain America stopped him. "We can't have a battle in the middle of a metropolitan area."

He had scarcely finished speaking when they were no longer in the middle of downtown Los Angeles. The sudden change of surroundings disoriented them until they realized that they were back where they had originally gathered outside the city.

"Now we can fight." the Beyonder said cheerfully.

The air seemed to explode as the battle with the Beyonder finally began. He completely disappeared in a web of energy blasts of all different types and colors. The strongest fighters, the Thing, She Hulk, Hercules, Colossus, and many others attempted to pound the Beyonder into the ground, creating a huge dust cloud.

"Wow." Kitty said as she watched the attack on the Beyonder. "Nothing could survive that." She received no reply, so she turned to look at her best friend, whose face shocked her.

Illyana was staring straight ahead, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wider than Kitty had ever seen them. "Illyana?"

"It's not possible. It _can't_ be possible."

"What?"

Illyana looked at her friend, her eyes filled with fear. "That power."

"You can sense it?"

"Since the moment he appeared."

Now Kitty grew afraid. She, Sam, and Illyana had had a hard time taking seriously the fear everyone else had of the Beyonder. But the only time Kitty had ever seen Illyana afraid was when Warlock's transmode virus had infected her arm. If Illyana was scared then the situation was far more serious than Kitty had imagined. "If he's that strong then I'm not going to sit around waiting for him to kill us." With that Kitty ran to join the fight.

In the thick of the battle the Beyonder commented on whoever was in front of him at the moment.

"I remember you."

"You've changed."

"How come you weren't on battle world?"

None of them heard his comments over the roar of he battle, but it was obvious to them all that he was unfazed by their combined might.

Still smiling, the Beyonder began to go on the offensive. He pushed everyone away from him so that he had room to raise his hands. Large, man size boulders rose out of the ground. They circled the Beyonder for several seconds, before being thrust in every direction. The heroes scattered, trying unsuccessfully to avoid them. Captain America protected himself with his shield, but the impact still knocked him over. Iron Man destroyed two with his repulsors, which resulted in small debris being sprayed at some of those trying to dodge the larger rocks. The fighters were forced to retreat as the Beyonder summoned up yet more boulders.

One boulder flew past the crowd straight at Illyana. She raised her arm towards it, but panicked when there was no effect. She winced and shut her eyes, only saving herself by instinctively summoning a stepping disk in front of her. The boulder entered it and crashed somewhere in Limbo.

* * *

Doctor Strange stood away from the battle, merely observing it. It was going just as poorly as he had feared. The young sorceress who had just teleported next to him agreed.

"He overpowered my levitation spell!" she stammered in disbelief.

"Yes."

"But that's impossible."

"Ordinarily you would be correct, but I believe that we are facing a foe to whom no rules apply."

She took a huge breath and teleported back to the battle.

* * *

The Beyonder walked from person to person, seemingly not paying attention to how his boulders continued to fly in every direction, and comment on each person.

Worse, at random, certain heroes' powers were beginning to stop working, such as Kitty Pryde's. She noticed that she was no longer phasing when she began to feel dust in her eyes. She was now defenseless as a boulder zoomed right in her direction.

She felt a tug on the back of her costume and was pulled backwards through two stepping disks, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the boulder. She landed on the ground where the X-Men were gathering to regroup.

"Thanks." she said to Illyana, who had pulled her out of harm's way. She plunged her hand into the ground and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her phasing power had returned. "So how are we supposed to beat this guy?"

"We're not going to." Illyana answered grimly. The Beyonder was now walking straight at her. He stopped several yards away.

"Of all the heroes here you interest me the most."

"I'll bet." Illyana spat.

"On battle world, I separated the heroes and villains based on what they were like on the inside. On the inside you are worse than most of those villains, but you act like, and fight alongside, the heroes. This confuses me."

"Shut up!" Illyana began to back away.

"Do they know what you are? Why are you hiding it?"

The instant the last words left his mouth, Illyana's appearance changed. Her skin reddened, horns grew out of her forehead, and a long tail stuck out of the back of her uniform. Her tongue touched her top teeth, two of which were now large fangs.

It was as if time itself stopped. Everyone looked at her; in surprise, in horror. The most prominent change was in her eyes. They were still human, but the heroes saw a pain in them that few of them had seen in anyone else's eyes before.

The only movement was that of Doctor Strange. He alone knew what was happening, and he flew towards the battle, hoping that his power was enough to stop the child.

Illyana had fought this part of her since she returned from Limbo. Denied, it. Hidden it from everyone. She had maintained complete control over herself and over what everyone else saw of her.

And now the Beyonder shattered that control, showing her true self, her most closely guarded secret, the thing she hated most, to everyone. All the heroes. The X-Men. Sam, who would tell the knew mutants. Her brother. Kitty.

She looked at Piotr, whose expression was unreadable, then at Kitty, who was the first person in an eternity to speak, in a quiet, frightened voice.

"Illyana?"

And then she broke. Her eyes snapped shut. Her head was thrown back. And she screamed. She screamed in agony. Her soul sword appeared in her blood red hands and a fierce gale began to blow, knocking over everyone _but_ the Beyonder.

Doctor Strange stopped. He was too late. All he could do was watch as Illyana destroyed everything she loved.

She continued to scream. The gale emanating from her increasing in intensity. The ground shook and cracked. Her power, out of control, threatening to devour the Earth.

And then, in a flash of light, she, and everyone around her, were gone./

_In Secret Wars 2 issue 1 the Beyonder granted power to Stewart Cadwell, transforming him into the villain Thundersword. The X-Men at first believed that Thundersword was the Beyonder. Thundersword appeared again in an issue of Iron Man that tied into Secret Wars 2 but has not appeared since._

_Next Time: The Rise of the Darkchylde_


	19. The Rise of the Darkchylde

_Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story. The characters all belong to Marvel Comics._

In any land, anarchy reigns when a ruler loses his ability to govern with a clear head. In Limbo, where the laws of nature are subject to the whims of its master, order is maintained solely through the continued sanity of said master.

No more.

The land shook ferociously; fissures opened at random. The sky, never before even noticed by the humans who had been to Limbo, thunders with a deafening and constant roar. The lightning unending. Whole mountains rise into the air, sometimes to stay up, other times to rain down on whatever was below. The wind blows at gale speeds, sweeping all small objects and creatures into the air so fast that they became dangerous projectiles.

The demons large enough not to be blown away run in the same direction as their airborne brethren, away from the cause of the chaos, a teenage girl who until a few minutes earlier would have been considered a hero by others who bear the title.

Now, she is not a hero, but the Darkchylde. a creature of unimaginable evil, power, anger, and cruelty. She rages against nothing and everything, her dark side finally free to wreak the havoc it had always wanted to. The madness caused by the Beyonder leaves her seeing and comprehendingnothing but…oblivion, not even the comrades she has inadvertently brought to Limbo.

* * *

Cannonball, Shadowcat, Dazzler, and Rachel Grey stood as close to Illyana as they dared, even with Shadowcat's phasing power protecting them from the wind and the flying debris.

"How long can you keep this up?" Rachel shouted to Shadowcat over the wind and the thunder.

"Not forever!" Kitty shouted back, feeling like her head was going to explode. Staying in a continuous phasing state still brought back the headaches she experienced when she first discovered her powers; a condition made worse by the fact that she was phasing three other people. In a few more minutes Kitty would pass out from the pain and stress.

"Then we have to stop Illyana before she kills us all!" Sam yelled. He blasted away from Kitty's protection towards Illyana, hoping that his invulnerability would protect him long enough to reach her. At about a hundred meters from his target the winds became stronger and began to slow him down. By the time he was within twenty-five meters of Illyana he was encountering enough resistance that he was barely moving a few inches per second. He gritted his teeth and yelled, putting more power into his blast attack, actually achieving modest success.

But Illyana, in her red skin, horns, tail, and hooves, screamed even louder. The winds pushing Sam back doubled force, and he was thrown back.

As Sam flew over his companion's heads Rachel used her telekinesis to grab him, form a protective shield around him, and bring him back to the protection of Kitty's phasing power.

"Anymore bright ideas, hotshot?" Rachel shouted at Sam, who shook his head in frustration at his own stupidity.

"But…it was a bright idea." Kitty said. No one could hear her over the wind and Illyana's screams. Looking in the direction of her best friend, she knew that Sam had been right. If they were going to have any chance of surviving this, they had to stop Illyana.

The question was, _how_? It was obvious that the powers of Cannonball, Rachel, Shadowcat, and Dazzler were not up to the task.

And then it hit Kitty.

_What about Illyana's powers?_

Illyana had been holding her soul sword when the Beyonder violated her at the deepest level. Nothing magical could withstand its touch. As a sorceress, Illyana definitely qualified as magical.

"Ray!" Kitty shouted at the very top of her lungs. "Keep a TK shield up over Sam and Dazzler!"

"But-" Rachel began, but quickly carried out Kitty's orders when she saw her phase into the ground.

Several minutes later, Kitty rose out of the ground behind Illyana, whom she recognized solely by her hair color and uniform. This creature was not human in appearance, in mind, and in evil. It would destroy Kitty and all she held dear without a second thought.

And yet Kitty hesitated. Despite the changes, this monster in front of her was still the best friend she ever had.

But Kitty was an X-Man. She had met Jean Grey before HER transformation into a monster. She knew the story of how Jean couldn't live with what she had become, had begged Cyclops to kill her, and in the end had done the deed herself. Kitty knew that that was what Illyana would have wanted as well.

"I'm sorry, Illyana." she whispered sadly. And with a single motion, Kitty unphazed her hand, grabbed Illyana's left hand (which held the soul sword), and twisted her friend's hand so that the soul sword cut through Illyana's side.

At once, the earthquakes, storms, and winds stopped. Illyana fell to the ground. The soul sword dropped from her hand, into Kitty's.

Kitty stepped back, looking at the arm that now held the soul sword. It was covered in silver armor that looked just like the armor that appeared on Illyana with greater and greater frequency.

As suddenly as the armor appeared, however, it faded, at the same time that the demonic features faded from Illyana's limp body.

With the danger ended, Sam, Rachel, and Dazzler ran towards Kitty and Illyana.

"Is she all right?" Sam asked, looking at his teammate. Kitty placed her pointer and middle fingers on Illyana's palm and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah. She's got a pulse."

"Good." Rachel said. "Without her we've got no way of getting back home." Kitty looked at Rachel in surprise. When she attacked Illyana she had completely forgotten that fact.

"And what if she goes ape again?" Dazzler demanded.

Kitty looked at the blade in her hand. "I think I can handle her."

* * *

The wait for Illyana to awaken seemed like an eternity to those around her, yet they all grew tense as she began to show the first signs of life.

Illyana slowly opened her eyes, squinting as she looked around her. She turned her head towards Kitty and asked weakly "How…. did we get to Limbo?"

Kitty bit her lip before answering. "You brought us here."

Illyana looked again at the destroyed landscape around her. "I did this?" Realization dawned on her face as she began to remember. "The Beyonder. You, Piotr, saw me." She put her hands over her face and whispered "What have I done?"

"It wasn't you." Kitty assured her friend.

"Of course it was. You heard the Beyonder. That…. _thing_…is the real me."

Kitty opened her mouth answer, but she had no idea what she could say. Rachel, on the other hand, immediately thought of something.

"It isn't anymore!" she said.

"That's right!" Sam exclaimed. "Your sword, it's done for you what you did for Amara when we fought the bear!"

Illyana slowly lowered her hands from her face, revealing a steady stream of tears flowing from her eyes, the sight of which surprised Kitty as much as anything else that had happened that day. 'Illyana is actually _crying?_'

"You…._**IDIOTS**_**!**" Illyana screamed at them. **"If striking myself with my sword was the answer I'd have done it long ago! Belasco's enchantments don't affect the trappings of souls! **_**He starts with the core!"**_

She turned to Kitty and while she still screamed, her tone was now one of pleading, rather than one of anger.

"**I was six! I had no idea what he had done! I had no power to stop him!" **Her voice faded as she lost any control over her tears that she may have had. "no will to try…" Kitty let Illyana rest her head on her shoulder as she began to cry uncontrollably.

'Oh God.' Kitty thought. 'I never knew. She never told us. I thought Ororo kept her safe and taught her magic. If she was in so much pain why didn't she _talk_ to us. She hasn't even _cried_ before now.'

"Let it out, Illyana." Kitty said to her sobbing friend. "Let all seven years, everything that's happened, just let it all out."

* * *

They teleported back to the scene of the battle with the Beyonder. It looked like a war zone. There were many craters and much of the ground was on fire. Small pieces of spandex from many costumes were strewn about. But there were no people.

"Looks like we missed the party." Kitty said.

Dazzler picked a red piece of spandex off the ground. "So for all we know, the Beyonder could have killed them all."

Kitty nodded. "So what do we do now?"

"Ah say we the first thing we do is get 'Berto and Amara out of the Gladiators. That's why Illyana 'n me were in L.A. in the first place."

Kitty sighed. "Why not. It's not like today can get any worse."

"We should go back to Lila's first." Dazzler said.

* * *

"You blew your chance when you didn't finish them before."

"We know, Lila. But when Magneto showed up there was nothing more we can do."

"I wasn't criticizing, Sam. I'm just saying that you have to change your strategy. You can't get in the same way."

"So what do you recommend?" Kitty asked.

"Cause a big enough ruckus to get the attention of the police. They're bribed to ignore the Gladiators, but if there's enough destruction that they have to get involved then they'll have no choice but to see first hand what the Gladiators are and shut them down."

"We still need someone inside to find Amara and Roberto." Sam interjected. "We can't let them get arrested with the Gladiators."

"I'll handle that." Kitty said. "I'm good at sneaking, and the Gladiators don't know me yet. I'll find them and signal you when it's time to attack. You then blast in there as loud as you can, and when the police arrive Illyana will teleport us out."

"Why isn't your friend here helping with the planning?" Lila asked.

* * *

Kitty found Illyana upstairs in one of the bedrooms. The sorceress sat hunched in a chair facing the side wall.

"How are you doing?" Kitty asked.

"How do you think?"

"Okay. Dumb question. I'll understand if you don't feel up to fighting again."

"No. Fighting's better than just sitting here. I can help, so I have to."

Kitty sat down on the bed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Illyana did not look at her. "What's there to say? That the New Mutants were right about me all along? That Rahne had me 'pegged from the start?'"

"I know you better than anyone Illyana, and I _know_ that that's not true."

"After today, do you think you know me at all?"

Kitty paused. "You never told me anything about what happened to you in Limbo, but I didn't need to know to know who you are. Your actions told me everything I needed to know."

"That's Harry Potter crap, Kitty. That's not how this magic works."

"So how does it work?"

Illyana pulled the Beatrix Medallion out of her shirt. "Belasco wanted to make me into the gateway for his masters, the Elder Gods, to reach and destroy our dimension. This medallion was the key to doing so. When all five bloodstones would be in place he would be able to cast his master spell." She opened the medallion, showing Kitty the three bloodstones already in place around the pentagram. "He forged them from my soul. With each one my soul became more and more corrupted and bound to evil. You're good enough at math to know that three is more than half of five."

Without warning, Illyana jumped to her feet and screamed. She threw the medallion at the wall. **"Damn him! I can't use any magic that isn't black because of him! All I can do is destroy!"**

Illyana breathed heavily, again struggling to hold back tears. "I shouldn't have done that. I need to keep that medallion with me at all times."

As Illyana picked up the medallion Kitty struggled to speak. Illyana's outburst had nearly given her a heart attack. "Why did you keep this all bottled up? It isn't healthy. Even if you couldn't talk about it, you could have let yourself cry once in a while. Everyone would've understood."

"Crying is a symptom of a lack of control. And I can't afford to lose control for a second."

"I'm so sorry. Is there nothing we can do to help?"

"Not with Belasco's enchantments."

"And.. Illyana?"

"What?"

"After I knocked you out I was holding your sword. And for a second I thought I was wearing your armor. I mean, I may have imagined the armor, but I was effeminately holding the sword. How did I do that?"

Illyana sat back down. "That's a good question. The only way you could do that is if you had a part of my soul. My best guess would be that a bond was formed between our souls somehow."

"But, what would that do to my soul?"

"Almost certainly nothing." Illyana turned around, finslly looking at Kitty. "I want to thank you for that. For saving me from myself. That took courage."

"I'm just glad I didn't kill you when I stabbed you. I was really afraid that I had."

Illyana shook her head. "You didn't want to."

'Wait. You're saying that your sword does whatever you want it to?"

"Pretty much."

* * *

Much later, Kitty phased into the back of the Gladiators' arena building. According to Alison Blaire the more uncooperative fighters were kept in cells at the far right of the second corridor in. Roberto and Amara were sure to be there. She had to find them before she could give the others the signal to strike.

Kitty poked her face out of the wall to check if the coast was clear. It wasn't. Had she stepped out of the wall she would been standing directly in front of a security guard. Fortunately for Kitty he was blasting very loud music and not paying attention. Kitty stopped when she recognized the lyrics.

_So what if you can see_

_The darkest side of me_

_No one will ever change_

_This animal I have become_

_Help me believe_

_It's not the real me_

_Somebody help me tame this animal _

Kitty shook her head. She had to stay focused. One guard would _not _become a problem for her. She walked silently behind the guard and phased through the next wall into the corridor behind.

What would become a problem for her would be a telepath, and as Kitty stepped into the next corridor a voice rang in her head.

'_Is that really YOU, Katherine? My, what a pleasant surprise.'_

Kitty's eyes widened as she recognized the voice in her mind. "Impossible. It can't be _you!"_/

_The lyrics are from the song "Animal I have Become" by Three Days Grace._

_Next time: The Truth_


End file.
